PMMMiiMiil 




'M 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap. _..._Trr7ip. 

Shelf..- •Li^S.. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. , 



JUST IMPORTED, 

The Lathe and its Uses; 

OR, 

INSTRUCTION IN THE ART OF TDRNIN& IN WOOD AND METAL, 

nrcLUDiNa 

A DESCRIPTION OF THE MOST MODERN APPLIANCES 

FOR THE ORNAMENTATION OF PLANE 

AND CURVED SURFACES. 

BY THE 

AUTHOR OF "THE YOUNG MECHANIC." 

8vo., Cloth. $6.BO. 



O. p. PUTNAM & SONS. NEW YORK. 



THE 



YOUNG MECHANIC 

CONTAINING 
DIREC7V0NS FOR THE USE OF ALL KINDS OF TOOLS, 

AND FOR THB 

CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM ENGINES AND 
MECHANICAL MODELS, 

INCLUDING 

THE ART OF TURNING IN WOOD AND METAL. 



X 




^ 



AUTHOR OF "THE LATHE AND ITS USES," 
"THE AMATEUR MECHANIC'S WORKSHOP," &c. 



• I 



FROM THE ENGLISH EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS, &^c. 



NEW YORK 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

27 AND 29 West 23d Stkeet 

1883 




1^ 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 

G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



In presenting tlie American edition of this little work to the 
public, we believe we are supplying a want that has long been 
felt by the Young Mechanics of this country, and many others 
who desire to become versed in the practical use of tools. We 
know of no other book published in this country or England, in 
which the method of using tools is so clearly explained ; and 
although written more especially for boys and beginners, it contains 
much information that will be of great value to the jDractical 
mechanic. The author is evidently thoroughly acquainted with 
his subject, and understands how to communicate his ideas in a 
simple and concise manner. 

The first six chapters are devoted to the description of Tools 
for working wood and the manner of using them, beginning with 
the simplest operations, requiring but few tools, and gradually 
leading on to the more difficult, giving examples of all the 
methods of joining and finishing work that are in common use 
among good workmen, and in this connection we would like to 
call attention to the small number of tools the author requii-es 
for performing all these different operations, the idea among 
amateurs and boys generally being, that if you only have tools 
enough you can make anything. This is not so, and if the begin^ 
ner will follow the advice of the author, and buy a few good 
tools, and learn the use of them thoroughly, and gradually add 
to his stock as his knowledge of their use increases, he will find 
it greatly to his advantage. 

The next five chapters relate to the lathe, and the art of turn,- 
ing. The author follows the same plan as in the fii'st part of the 
book, and gives more practical infoi-mation in these few pages 
(han we have seen in any other book on the subject, most of them: 
being written apparently for finished mechanics, and not for 
beginners. The Art of Turning as an amusement, is beginning: 
to attract considerable attention in this country, but not so muchi 



II INTRODUCTION. 

as it deserves and would obtain, if it were more generally known 
how many beautiful and useful articles can be produced in tho 
lathe. The expense of the necessary tools has deterred many 
from attempting to learn this branch of mechanics ; but we believe 
if any one has the time and patience to devote to the work, they 
will never have occasion to regret the money spent for this 
purpose. 

The last four chapters contain practical instruction in model- 
making and working in metal. This part of the book we would 
particularly recommend to inventors who desire to make their own 
models, as it contains information in regard to files, drills, and 
the various small tools used on metal, and also directions for lay- 
ing out work, which are invaluable to a novice in such operations, 
and will save him much time and trouble. 

As this book was originally published in London, where the 
facilities for getting many kinds of small tools are better than in 
this country, perhaps a little advice as to the best way of getting 
such tools as may be required will not be out of place. In most 
of the large Hardware Stores, carpenters' tools will be found, put 
up in chests, at prices varying from five to fifty dollars or more ; 
but we should not advise the amateur to buy any of these, as the 
quality of the tools is not always reliable, and as they are usually 
fitted up to make as much show as possible for the money, they 
contaio. many tools which are of very little use. The best way 
is to make a list of the tools required, and select them for your- 
self. The most important thing is to have the Cutting tools of 
good quality. We give below the names of some of the best 
makers of tools ; if you purchase any of these, you may be sura 
of the quality. 

On Saws, — Henry Disston, Groves & Son. 
On Chisels and Gouges, — Buck Bros, Moulson Bros. 
On Plane Irons, — Moulson Bros., Wm. Butcher. 
On Files, — P. S. Stubs, Greaves & Son, Earl & Co. 
On Rules and Squares, — Stanley Rule and Level Co. 



INTKODUCTION. Ill 

If you live in the City, you will probably find no difficulty in 
procuring some of the above makes ; but if you cannot find them? 
there are some others that are good, and you must rely somewhat 
on the dealer. In regard to the probable cost of the tools, a set 
such as is described on pages 29 and 30, would cost from fifteen 
to twenty dollars. 

Of Foot Lathes, the following are some of the makers : 

N. H. Baldwin, Laconia, N. H. 
GooDNOW & WiGHTMAN, Boston, Mass. 
American Tool Co. " " 

G. L. Cady, Lowell, Mass. 
Exeter Machine Co., Exeter, N. H. 
Jas. Stewart's Sons, New York. 

From some of the above the amatevir will probably be able to 
select a Lathe to suit him in size and price. The lowest price at 
which a serviceable lathe can be bought is about forty dollars; 
this is without tools or chucks. About fifteen dollars more would 
be required for these. Lathes can be bought from this price iip 
to hundreds of dollars, according to the style of lathe and the 
number of chucks, but of course the beginner would not need 
an expensive lathe, and seventy-five to one hundred dollars would 
buy a lathe and tools suitable for all kinds of small work in 
wood, ivory, or metal. 



This volume being an exact reprmt of the English edition, it may be 
well to explain that the material called Deal in England is much the same 
as our Pine. The article called in England a " Carrier," is with us called 
a dog (see pp. 112, 114, 115). Articles priced in English currency would 
cost here now about 35 cents to the English shilling, or $7 per £ stg. 



Preface. 




F all people in the world who must not be 
neglected are, first and foremost, " Our Boys," 
and, of all boys, mechanical hoys deserve a very 
high place in our estimation. Whatever others 
may be, these, at any rate, are possessed of sound heads, 
and willing hands. Therefore, to help these to carry out 
their designs, appears to be a special duty of those who, 
once mechanical boys themselves, have lived to become the 
progenitors of others. In fulfilment of this very duty I 
have taken up the pen, and with special reference to young 
mechanics, but without entirely forgetting those of maturer 
growth, I have thrown together a few hints upon that 
absorbing question, " How to make and how to use ? " In 
doing this, I have endeavoured to carry out the plan of 



IV PREFACE. 



small beginnings^ going from the simplest and easiest to tae 
more complicated and difficult work, although here and 
there, of sheer necessity, a somewhat different order has been 
ohserved. The workshops of King's College School prove 
the capabilities of boys to do high-class mechanical work 
when their efforts are rightly directed by a master's hand. 
Where the latter cannot be obtained, guide-books must, 
however insufficiently, take his place ; but whether instruc- 
tion in mechanical art be oral or otherwise, practice and 
perseverance are the secrets of success. 

" Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, 
Multa tulit fecitque puer ; sudavit et alsit." 




Content^. 



ORiX. 
I. INTRODTTCTORT, . , 

n. HOW TO MAKE A CAGE, . 
_ni. MORTICE AND TENON JOINTINO, 
IV. HOW TO MAKE A TABLE, . 
Y. DOVETAILING AND MITRING, 
VI. REBATING, TONQUEING, AND GROOVINO, 
Vn. THE TOUNG MECHANIC AT THE LATHE, 
VlII. ON WOODS AND MATERIALS FOR TURNIKO, 
IX. SHARPENING AND SETTING TOOLS, 
X. HAND-TURNING IN WOOD, 
XI. HARD-WOOD TURNING, 
XII. HOW TO MAKE A STEAM-ENQINB, 
Xin. watt's ENGINE, . 
XIV. HOW TO MAKE AN ENGINE, 
XV. HARDENING AND TEMPERING TOOLS, 



tkom 

1 

15 

29 

49 

66 

89 

103 

122 

144 

163 

203 

226 

264 

281 

325 



Chapter I. 




|-^^HERE never was a time wlien a taste for practical 
mechanics was so general among boys as it is 
now, in this year of grace 1870. There are 
comparatively few homes in which evidences of 
this hobby are not apparent in every odd nook and corner, 
in the shape of carpenter's tools, not always in first-rate 
condition, nor by any means generally in their proper 
places. A saw here, a hammer there, a gimlet, bradawl, 
or chisel elsewhere. 

This probably results from the giant strides which have 
been made of late years in mechanical enterprise, and the 
introduction of machinery into every department, as a means 
of saving labour and facilitating the production of the: 
various necessaries of life. 

Man is an imitative animal, and in this as in other things^ 
" the child is father to the man ; " and hence it comes to 
pass that the boy whose eyes are continually resting upon 
machinery of one sort or another (agricultural implementSj 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



if a villager ; engines for jilaning, savvying, turning, and so 
forth, if resident in a town) sooner or later feels an innate 
desire to construct models of these gigantic mechanical 
labourers, by whose incessant but unfelt toil our several 
daily needs are so cheaply and plentifully supplied. 

Even if the youthful mind does not always display 
highly-developed inventive faculties, there is very gener- 
ally manifested a desire of personally constructing some 
one or more of those articles which conduce to the gratifi- 
cation of a particular hobby. If the boy has a taste for 
natural history, cases and cabinets will be made, for the 
reception of eggs, butterflies, and insects, or to contain 
stuffed specimens of animals and birds. If he has wdthin 
him the elements of a sailor, his ingenuity will be 
exercised upon model boats and shijjs. If fond of dumb 
pets, rabbit hutches, dove-cots, or cages will afford him 
opportunities for the exercise of his constructive powers, 
and thus the young mechanic frequently lays the founda- 
tion of future eminence in that particular line of life to 
which his tastes naturally lead him. 

There are few boyish hobbies in which assistance haa 
not of late years been given by instruction books and guides 
of a high degree of excellence — natural history, botany, 
gardening, rearing and breeding all manner of pets — to 
each of these, well-written volumes have been devoted 
by able and experienced writers, but mechanical and 



''SMALL BOYS NEED FEW TOOLS." 3 

constructive art lias been somewhat neglected. Here and 
there, in periodical magazines, a few pages are dedicated 
to the subject, but no book about practical mechanics, 
written expressly for boys, has yet appeared. 

The author of the present volume, himself father of ~ four 
lads, all of whom in turn occasionally try their hands at 
this kind of work, and who has himself for many years 
practised the mechanical arts of carpentry, turning, and 
model-making, hopes that the hints contained herein may 
prove valuable to those young friends whom he now ad- 
dresses. Some of the following chapters will be arranged 
for very little boys, some for those who are older, while it 
is believed that other parts of the work may not prove 
altogether useless to those who have dropped jacket and 
knickerbockers and rejoice in the vigour of manhood. 
Thus the little boy, who receives the book as a present, 
will find it a fast and faithful friend as his years, and, we 
trust, knowledge and bodily powers increase. 

" Small boys need few tools, but much perseverance.'''' 
Let this be their motto, as it will stand them in good 
stead. A pocket-knife, gimlet, hammer, and a few nails 
will generally serve their purpose ; but there is one other 
tool, namely, a square, which is of great importance, and 
of which it is well to learn the use as early as possible. 
A small saw and a bradawl may also be added to the list, 
and likewise a chisel half an inch wide. Thus equipped, 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



a very youthful carpenter can do a good deal, and, let me 
tell him, a good deal has been often done without even 
this moderate supply of tools. It must be taken for 
granted that the knife and chisel are sharp, because blunt, 
tools make bad work, and by far the best plan for small 
boys is to get some friend to sharpen them when blunt, as 
the operation is not easy and requires practice. It is a very 
foolish plan to try and work with a blunt knife, for the 
fingers are just as much in danger ; and a boy who intends 
to learn how to use tools must learn at the commencement 
to use them with due care, so as not to damage himself. 

There are small boxes of tools sold, containing generally 
a wooden mallet, saw, plane, chisel, and gimlet, at 
about 3s. 6d. or even 58. Such a box is simply useless. 
The tools are of iron — will not take a good edge, and are 
generally disposed to bend and twist. Avoid these, and 
buy, or get a friend to buy, those I have named, of good 
quality, and be sure to take care of them, for which pur- 
pose you may try your hand at making a box. For this 
purpose, you will require some thin board (half-inch thick) 
planed on both sides. (The carpenter will prepare this for 
you.) Let us see how much you will need. Measure your 
longest tool, the chisel or saw, if the latter is quite a small 
one fit to go into a little box ; if not, it can be hung on a 
nail, and you can make your box to contain your knife 
and chisel and gimlets. I daresay if the box is 9 inche"* 



HOW TO MAKE A BOX. 



5 



long, 4 inches wide, and 3 inches deep, it will be large 
enough to take these few tools, for I have just now mea- 
sured such a hammer and chisel as I have recommended, 
and find them each about 9 inches in length. The top and 
bottom of a box should project a little all round, so that 
you will want them about an inch and a half wider and 
longer, which will also allow for the thickness of the wood; 
for you must remember we have given the size of the box 
inside. To make this clear, I shall here give a plan of the 
bottom of the box (Fig. I). 




Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 




It is 10^ inches long, and 5^ inches wide. The broad 
black line shows where the edges of the sides and ends will 
come, these being half an inch thick, so that there is a 
quarter of an inch all round the outside as a border. 
Reckon across and you will understand this better. A 
quarter of an inch outside, half an inch for the black line 
(equals three-quarters of an inch), 4 inches for the inside 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 



width, half an inch again for the black line, and a quarter 
of an inch outside as before, — altogether making 5^ inches. 
Now reckon the length. A quarter-inch border, half an 
inch for the black line, 9 inches inside, half inch for the 
second black line, and another quarter outside — making 
10^ inches. You require, therefore, two boards 10^ inches 
long and 4^ wide for the top and bottom. Now the two 
long sides and the ends are to be 3 inches wide to forna 
the depth of the box, and here you want no extra width, 
but as the inside of your box is to be 9 inches long, and 
the sides are usually nailed over the ends, like Fig. 2, 
where I have shown them put together, you see that you 
must have the sides as much longer than 9 inches as will 
allow them to lap over the ends ; that is, half an inch at 
each end where I have made them black, or altogether, one 
inch; so that you will want two pieces 10 inches long and 
3 wide. The ends will be also 3 inches wide and 4 inches 
the other way, and here no additional size is needed. Now, 
the usual way to cut the sides is to get a narrow strip 
of board of the required width and thickness, and long 
enough to make both the sides and ends, just such a piece 
as Fig. 3, on w^iich are marked the lines where it will have 
to be cut across, and you will easily perceive that you re- 
quire 28 inches in length and 3 in width. 

But you must understand that when you cut with a sa"W 
you waste a little of the wood, which falls in the shape o/ 



A CARPENTER'S RULE. 



7 



sawdust, and so if you did not allow for this, your box 
would be too small. The waste depends on the thickness 
of the edge of the saw, where you will, if you examine it, 
see that the teeth spread out right and left to prevent it 
from sticking fast as it is used. Probably, you would 
waste three-eighths of an inch, which is nearly half an inch 
in cutting off the pieces, so that instead of a piece exactly 
28 inches long, you must have it 28^ inches, or even a 
little more. 

I want you to understand all this before you set to work, 
even though at first you may get a carpenter to measure 
and cut it for you; because most small boys take no trouble 
of this kind, and consequently they are sure to make their 
boxes too large or too small, and they look very bad when 
done. However, as I said before, I expect my young- 
readers to understand what they are about, and they must 
set out their work carefully, or they will never get on so as 




Fix 4. 



to be able to make good use of the later chapters of this 
book. A carpenter's rule is made like this (Fig 4\ 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



Sometimes there is a brass slide, to add to its length 
wlien necessary, and sometimes it is hinged so as to fold up 
again. If you want one for your box, you can get it so 
made, when it will go in nicely. It is 2 feet long — 1 foot 
on each side of the central joint. A foot is 12 inches ; the 
whole rule, therefore, is 24 inches. Now, you will see that 
each of these inches is divided by short lines into eight 
equal parts, called eighths ; at the second, the line is rather 
longer, this being a quarter of an inch : at the fourth, there 
is a still longer line, this being the half-inch ; then comes 
another eighth, then the three-quarters, another eighth, and 
the inch is made up, — eight-eighths being equal to one 
whole inch. Very likely you will find one edge of the rule, 
or sometimes only one inch^ divided into smaller parts, 
which are sixteenths, or half-eighths ; and sometimes, but 
not very often, divisions still smaller are used, which are 
half-sixteenths, or thirty-seconds, because thirty-two such 
divisions make the complete inch. Three feet make one 
yard, but carpenters always reckon by the foot and inch, 
and by eighths and sixteenths of an inch. In some trades 
the inch is divided into a hundred parts, and work is mea- 
sured up and fitted so carefully, that it would be considered 
faulty if a mistake of less than a thousandth of an inch were 
made ; but you will not yet understand how it is possible 
even to measure so very small a quantity. You should 
certainly learn and understand how to measure with a 



THE SQUARE. 



common two-foot rule, and when you can add one to your 
box of tools, do so. 

Now, let us examine the tool called a square, without 
which the marks could not readily be drawn as a guide for 
the saw, where the strip of board is to be cut to make the 
sides and ends of the proposed box. Here is a drawing of 
one (Fig. 5). 




Fig 5. 



Fig. 6. 



It is a handle and a blade, like a knife half opened, the one 
being fixed exactly square, or at right angles with the 
other. The blade is thinner than the handle, and when 
the latter is placed as in Fig. 6, a line marked across the 
board against the edge of the blade will be, of course, 
square to the side, so that when cut off, the piece will be 
like the end of Fig. 6. This is not the shape which the 
sides of boxes generally have when made by small boys, 
because they have not a square, and do not know how to 
work properly. Nevertheless, if one end of a board is cut 
square, you might get the piece right by m^easuring the same 



10 THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

distance on each side (say 10^ inches), and drawing a line 
across from point to point, as a guide for the course of the 
saw. But, then, as it is absolutely necessary that the end 
of the board should be square to the side, to do this you 
had better get a proper square at once, and learn how to 
use it. You will, indeed, find this tool most necessary for 
all kinds of work, and you will be quite unable to do with- 
out it, even though you only have, besides, a knife and 
gimlet. 

Now, if you want to cut off a piece of board with the saw, 
you must never cut out the line you have marked as a guide 
by the help of your square, because if you do, you will get 
the piece too short, owing to the width of the saw-cut 
which I explained before. Cut, therefore, j^'e^s^: beyond it, 
leaving it upon the piece you are going to use for the side 
of your box, or other article. At first, you will find it 
difficult to saw neatly and close to the line, but you will 
get used to it very soon ; and if the saw does not go quite 
straight, you can trim the piece with a sharp knife neatly 
up to the line, which you see you could not do if you cut 
out that line by sawing exactly upon it. All these direc- 
tions in little matters are very important, because you will 
find that, by attending to them, you will work well, and 
the various things you make will look neat and trim, and 
be fit to show to your friends. 

Now, let us go on with the box, which was laid down 



now TO MAKE A BOX. n 

jnst to allow a little explanation about the carpenter's ruk 
and square. I shall suppose you to have cut off all the 
pieces quite squarely and neat, and that the edges are also 
square to the sides, which you must take care to insure by 
keeping the blade of the saw upright when you use it. It 
is a good plan to measure and mark both sides of your 
board for this purpose, and to mark the edges from one of 
these lines to the other. You will then have guide-marks 
all round, and, by keeping close to these, you will be sure 
to cut your work truly. It would not so much signify if 
the long sides were cut a trifle too long, as I shall explain 
presently ; but the ends must be square and true to mea- 
sure, 4 inches by 3 inches. You must now proceed to nail 
them together. This must be done with small brads, which 
are fine nails, and which for the present purpose may be 
one inch long. If your pieces are all exact to measure, 
draw a pencil line across the two side pieces, a quarter of 
au inch from the ends, by the help of the square, as if you 
wanted to cut off a quarter of an inch at each of those 
parts, and with your bradawl make two or three holes 
(three will be best) along those lines. Do not make the 
first and last too near the edges, or you will split the wood, 
and spoil the box. Now set up one of the short pieces, and 
place upon it the piece which you have bored holes in. If 
you have a bench with a vice, you can screw up the short 
piece into it ; but it will stand up very well upon the 



12 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



bench if you have no vice. It is now in the position 0/ 
Fig. 7, C. 




Fig. 7. 



Hold it thus, and run the bradawl a little way into the 
lower piece, through the holes already made in the upper. 
Drive a brad through the middle hole first, which will hold 
it together, and then through the other two holes. If you 
have beeri careful, you will find this corner square and 
neat, and the wood not split in the least. Do the same 
with the other short piece, and then nail on the long side 
that is left. The frame of the box will now be complete. 
I told you a short time ago, that it would not much 



HOW TO MAKE A BOX. 13 

signify if the sides were cut too long. The reason is this : 
Suppose B to be the side half an inch too long. You 
would mark off 9 inches of the middle by two lines drawn 
with the square as before, which would be the length of 
the inside of the box ; you would then place the inner 
edges of the end pieces against these lines, and nail them 
on like A, and afterwards neatly saw off the two pieces 
which lap over these at each end. If the wood is likely to 
split when the holes are made for the nails, or if the work- 
man is pressed for time, he very frequently does his work 
in this way, and then cuts it off and planes it neatly. It is, 
however, better to work as directed, only be sure to bore 
holes carefully for the nails, so as never to split the wood. 

No very special directions are needed about putting on 
the bottom. Leave all round an exactly even border of a 
quarter of an inch, and after it is nailed, you may neatly 
round off all its edges, to give it a finished appearance. 

The cover is, of course, to be attached by a pair of small 
hinges. Brass hinges are the neatest, and when you buy 
them, ask for screws to match. The hinges may be three- 
quarters of an inch long, and they will be, when shut, 
about half an inch wide, which is the size you need. Lay 
them (shut up) upon the edge of the back, about two inches 
from the ends, and with a hard pencil cut to a fine point, 
or with the point of your bradawl, make a mark at each 
end, as if you were measuring the length of the hinges on 



»4 



7 HE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



the edge of the box. Between these marks you have to cut 
out pieces like Fig. 8, 




Fig. 8. 
which will be just the length of the hingep, and deep 
enough to allow them, when shut up, to fit and lie even 
with the top edge of the box. Open them, make holes 
with the bradawl, and put in the screws. If you have not 
a screwdriver, you can turn them with the end of an old 
knife ; but you may as well get a small screwdriver, for if 
you intend to do good work, you will often use screws in- 
stead of nails. Hinges are always screwed on. Now lay 
the cover in place carefully, mark its position, so that you 
have some sort of guide-line to direct you, and then by 
laying the cover flat on the bench, and standing the (open) 
box on its side, you can screw on the hinges upon the 
cover. Bound all the edges of the cover as you did the 
bottom, but keep the edges of the box square and sharp ; 
and so you have now a really well-made little tool-chest. 
A little brass hook and eye will do to fasten it, for a lock 
is rather difficult for a small boy to put on. 



Chapter II. 




" HE method of constructing a simple "box has been 
given in the first chapter, because so many 
other articles are made upon exactly similar 
principles. The rules laid down comprise two 
or three essential points, the neglect of which render the 
ordinary carpentry of boys so essentially bad. Foremost 
of these is the use of the square. There is no tool of more 
general use in the hands of workmen in wood and metal, and 
yet, generally speaking, either none at all, or a very faulty 
one is added to the collection of tools ordinarily supplied to 
boys. In the next place, I have insisted upon accuracy in 
measurement. The carpenter's rule is not at all difficult 
for a young boy to understand; but even if he is not in 
possession of such at his first attempts, he should always 
be induced to work by measure of some kind. This causes 
him of necessity to exercise his mind as well as his hands, 
and teaches him to consider well at starting as to what he 
must allow for thickness of wood, the difierence between 



1 6 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



inside and outside measurement, and so forth; all this will 
greatly conduce to his success, and consequently satisfac- 
tion in his work, and will lessen the chances of his begin- 
ning a number of articles and casting them aside unfinished 
— a propensity too common in ill boys. 

I shall now resume my directions in the first person, 
which I think is the more easy method both for master 
and pupil. The next specimen I propose, because it re- 
quires even more care than a box, but is at the same time 
perfectly within a boy's powers, is a birdcage. Of these 
there are such a number of varieties that it is difficult to 
settle upon the best kind to begin upon. I think, how- 
ever, a wire cage will on the whole be the easiest to con- 
struct, only you must take great care in boring holes in the 
thin strips of wood, and, indeed, if you can get a birdcage- 
maker's awl besides the one you have, it will save both time 
and trouble. It is not made round with a flat end, but is 
three-cornered with a sharp point, so that it has three 
edges, and when it is carefully used and twirled round and 
round by the fingers in making holes, it will hardly ever 
split even very thin strips and pieces of wood. However, 
if you cannot get one never mind, you must use the com- 
mon bradawl according to directions here given. 

I shall suppose you now in possession of a carpenter's 
rule, and that you have carefully learned all I told you 0/ 
the inches and eighths, so that you may be able to measure 



HOJV TO MAKE A CAGE. 



17 



and mark your work very truly. The front of tlie cage 
is represented in Fig. 9, before the projecting roof-boards 
have been put on. 




Fig. 9. 

Here you see two upright strips at the corners, which shall 
be 8 inches long. These are 12 inches apart, outside 
measure. They are f (three-eighths) of an inch square^ 
and you must get them ready planed from the carpenter- 
There will be four of them required, as they are at the four 
corners of the cage ; so that, as they are each 8 inches long,, 
you can get a strip 36 inches in length by three-eightha- 
wide, and this being 4 inches more than you need, will 
allow for waste. At the lower part of the drawing, you see 
the edge of the bottom board, which projects a little all 
round. As the outside of the front pillars are 12 inches 



1 8 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

apart, this board may be 13 inches long, which will allow 
a border of \ an inch (half an inch), and it may be 8 inchea 
wide. It need not be thicker than a quarter of an inch. 
A little above this board (say half an inch) is another 
board from one pillar to another, which is to be 1| 
inches wide and three-eighths of an inch thick. As the 
pillars are also three-eighths thick, and their outside edges 
12 inches apart, you must take |- (six-eighths) of an inch 
from 12 inches to find the length of this board. 

If you look at the divisions upon your rule, you will see 
that six-eighths of an inch amounts to exactly f (three 
quarters), so that your board must be 11 inches and one 
quarter long. This will also be the length of the board at 
the top where it falls between the pillars, and this too 
must be three-eighths thick. 

I shall now show you how to mark and cut this top 
piece into the shape here sketched. Cut the board first 
of all into an oblong, and mind that you mark it by 
your square, so that the ends shall be square to the 
sides. Let it be 2\ inches wide. Here it is (Fig. 10). 
Measure a length of 6 inches from either end to the middle 
at A, and make a mark at that place. Draw a line, C B, 
one inch from the opposite side, the whole length of the 
board, and mind you draw it correctly. You should measure 
an inch at B, and at C, and then draw a line from one 
point to the otlier along tlie edge of your rule. You must 



IfOlV TO MAKE A CAGE. 



19 



now draw two lines from the spot you marked at A to the 
ends of this line (where you see the dotted lines). In 




Pig. 10. 

order to cut this piece, you must begin at A, not at B or 
C, or else if the saw should stick you will be sure to split 
off a strip right across the piece; but if it should stick 
when you are cutting from A, you will only split off a bit 
of one of the three-cornered outside pieces, which would 
not signify at all. 

When you are sawing, be sure, as I told you before, not 
to cut into the line you have marked, but saw just outside 
it, so that the lines will be left upon the two sloping sides 
of the board. You may cut as close to it as you can, but 
you must not destroy it, and then you can with your knife 
neatly shave off the rough edges which the saw has made, 
until you have pared the wood quite neatly all along the 
line. If you cut this line out, you will no longer have any 
guide to work by. Cutting out guide lines is a very com- 
mon fault, not confined to small boys or big ones. You 
will find it easy to pare this sloping side if you begin to 



20 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

work from A downwards to B and C, but you cannot cut it 
in the other direction. A carpenter would, of course, run 
his pL^ne down the slope, and so will you by and by ; but 
planing is difficult, and it is better you should wait for a 
time before you buy a plane ; for, remember, those foolish 
little things in boys' tool-boxes are no use at alh 

You had better now prepare the holes into which the 
wires are to be put as you see in the drawing. You can 
use either iron wire or brass, but the first is cheapest. These 
will have to be a quarter of an inch apart. Both the top 
and bottom strips, you will remember, are \\\ (eleven and 
a quarter) inches long. Now, 1 1 inches will be 44 quar- 
.ters, and one more will be 45 ; but as the first hole must be 
a quarter of an inch from the ends, you will find that 44 
holes will be required. Look at your rule and count this. 
You must mark all these by little dots with a pencil on one 
piece, and then laying the other upon it, mark the rest 
exactly even with the first. Do this with great care, or 
the wires will not stand upright when the cage is finished. 
The space between the top and bottom pieces will be 5^ 
inches, so that if you allow the wires to enter a quarter of 
an inch at the top and bottom, you will want 44 wires 5f 
inches in length — you may say, 6 inches. You can have 
them all cut and straightened for you, but if you have a 
pair of pliers with cutting edges, you can do it yourself, 
and it is almost necessary you should get a pair, or borrow 



HOW TO MAKE A CAGE. 21 

them, if you intend to construct wire birdcages. You wili 
want a few less in each side of this cage, as it will not be 
there so wide as it is in front. We shall presently see how 
many it will require. 

You may put together the front of the cage at once and 
set it aside, or proceed to cut out the rest of it. Gener- 
ally speaking, it is the best plan to cut out and prepare all 
the main parts of your work before proceeding to fix them 
in their respective places ; but the front of such a cage as 
I am describing, being complete in itself, you may do as 
you like about it. V/e will begin with the wires. Insert 
the ends one after the other in a row in one of the pieces, 
laying it upon the bench, or fixing it on its edge in a vice, 
but taking care not to bend them. When one piece is 
thus stuck full of wires, lay it flat on its side, and put the 
other piece in its place, and one by one insert into it the 
other ends of the wires. A pair of pliers will help you 
greatly in doing this. I daresay the two pieces of wood 
will not be very parallel, but will be closer at one end than 
at the other. This does not matter, because you will set 
it right in nailing on the upright strips or corner pillars. 
This, therefore, is the next thing you must do; and you 
must have two brads top and bottom, each an inch long, 
but as fine as you can get. Nail to the top board first, 
and then place the other in position half an inch from the 
bottom of the pillars. If you have no carpenter's vice, 



23 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



j^ou had better work with the front of the cage laid down 
flat and near the right hand edge of the bench or table, so 
that the pillar almost overlaps it. In this position, you 
can bore the two holes and nail it together ; but be guarded 
as to splitting the pillars. 

You ought now to have the Tront well and firmly put 
together and standing square and true as in the sketch; 
only the bottom board, of which you see the front edge, is 
not to be attended to at present. 

There is another way of going to work, namely, to put 
the whole frame-work of the cage together and add the 
wires afterwards. In this case (the holes having all been 
made beforehand as directed here) the wires are in turn 





Fig. 11. 



inserted at the top, and then being slightly bent are put 
in place in the bottom piece — each wire being completelr 



now TO MAKE A CAGE. 



n 



fixed bofore the next is added. Either way may be tried, 
but in that given above the wires are not bent at all, and 
therefore have not to be straightened. Adding them, how- 
ever, afterwards is the common practice among the cage- 
makers. Indeed, it generally happens in large establish- 
ments that one set of workmen make the woodwork, and 
another set add the wires — such division of labour proving 
more advantaoeous. 

Attention is now to be given to the sides, of which Fig. 
11 is a drawing. Here you need not make any corner 
pillars. You have only to cut out the top and bottom 
strips — the lower one, 1 f inch wide, to match that in front : 




Fig. 12. 



the top, 1 inch wide, to match the straight part of the 
ends of the uppc? front piece or gable, as you see in Fig. IJi. 



«4 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

You will also see by this drawing that you must nail the 
side pieces inside the corner pillars, and not upon them, so 
that the nails go in from the front of the cage into the ends 
of the two side pieces which carry the wires. I have shown 
by dots (Fig. 12) where the nail holes are, and they must 
be carefully made, avoiding the places where the other 
two nails come, which you hammered in when you fitted 
together the front. The side strips, A B (Fig. 11), may bo 
8 inches long. Both sides of the cage are to be made 
exactly alike. I have told you to make the lower side-rails 
If inch wide, because they must come to the bottom of 
the pillars, for no half-inch space is required at the sides 
between these rails and the bottom of the cage. It is so 
left in the front, because a tray, or cleaning-board, has to 
be slid in there. You had certainly better put together 
the side pieces by means of the wires, as in Fig. 11, before 
you nail them in their places. 

You now require a piece of board for the back, and 
quarter-inch stuff will do very well. Bought cages are 
made of much thinner wood, generally mahogany, but at 
first it will be easier for you to use thicker boards. If you 
round off the edges, they will not appear so thick. Very 
thin deal will warp or bend after it is made up ; and, in- 
deed, it is quite possible the back of this cage will do so. 
Get the wood, however, as dry as you can, and the top 
boards, when nailed on, will probably prevent it. 



JIOIV TO MAKE A CAGE. 25 

To cut out this back board, you may lay down upon the 
piece from which it is to be cut the whole front of the cage, 
and draw a pencil round it, only, when you come to the 
bottom of the side pillars, you must draw a line straight 
across from one to the other. Then Q,\\.ifrom the point at 
the top, as you did before. Let the grain of the wood run 
up and down, not across, the back. Nail the back thus cut 
to the side strips, as you nailed on the front, and you will 
then only have the roof to put on, and the bottom. 

This roof may consist simply of a thin board, cut square 
and true, nailed on to the two gables, and it will look much 
prettier if it is made to project beyond the front. If you 
measure down the slope of the front or back top-piece, you 
will find it 6 inches long, and a little more. Your board 
should therefore be 7 or 8 inches wide, because, although 
the roof pieces meet at the top, they should come down a 
little beyond the sides of the cage. As the sides are 8 
inches wide, cut the top 1 1 inches long, which will allow it 
to project in -front 3 inches. 

If you look at the cage at the end of these directions, 
you will understand this. You must slope, or hevil off, the 
top edges of these roof boards, to make them fit neatly 
together along the ridge ; and as you will paint the cage, 
you can glue on a narrow strip of paper, to make it quite 
water-tight. The door of these cages is generally in the 
back. You merely mark and cut out a square hole about 



26 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



3 inches square. You then fit a piece in, and hinge it 
either with wire, or (which is easier) by sticking on a strip 
of calico down the edge of it, and fasten with a wire hook. 
As the back is but a quarter of an inch thick, you will be 
able to cut out the hole (before nailing on the back), with 
a sharp pocket-knife; and again I say, don't cut out the 
guide-lines — cut inside them, and then neatly pare exactly 
up to them. Make the bottom 13 inches long, and 10 
wide, which will allow it to project in front, and also half 
an inch on each side. 

You have now to make the tray, to slide into the space 
left in the front below the bottom front rail. This is to 
hold sifted sand, and is made loose, because it requires to 
be taken out and cleaned every day (Fig. 13). It is merely 




Fig. IS. 

a fiat thin board (one-eighth of an inch will be quite thick 
enough), with a strip nailed on, or glued on, in front, to fit 
the space left for it, and other smaller strips glued on all 
round it, so as to form a very shallow tray or drawer. The 



IfOIV TO MAKE A CAGE. 27 

small strips can be glued on flat upon the top of the board, 
but to fasten on the front, you must first glue on a similar 
strip to those round the sides, and just such as you made 
the pillars of, but not quite so thick, and then glue, or nail 
on with very small brads, the front piece, nailing or glu- 
ing it to this strip. This will make it very firm, and will 
do well enough for your first cage. A, Fig. 13, shows a 
part of the drawer, C is the front, and D the strip it is 
glued to. The handle of this drawer or tray is to be made 
of wire, unless you can find some little knob or other that 
will do. If you succeed in making this cage, you will have 
learned a good deal, because, although not really difficult, 
it requires care and consideration ; and if you are in a 
hurry, you will split the wood, or make it crooked, or cut the 
pieces too short. It should be neatly painted in oil-colour 
— green is a favourite colour — but the top boards may be 
red, and the wires should be left clean and bright, because 
the bird often pecks at them. If you paint the inside of 
the woodwork, it should be white. 

I have not here put any feeding-boxes, or seed-drawers, 
because glasses are the best ; but yon will see two holes (Fig. 
11), one inch across, in the lower side pieces, for the bird to 
put its head through to get at the seed and water. A bit 
of wire, for'ning half a hoop, supports the glasses or trays. 
These ou'^ht to be cut with a centrebit — a tool you have 
not, an4 the carpenter had better do it for you. Here is 



28 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



the cage complete (Fig. 14). You can do without making 
holes in the sides, if you put two wires longer than the 




i?'ig u. 



rest, and bend them, a^j you see at B in Fig. 13, before 
putting them in place. 




Chapter TIT. 




HE previous chapters were devoted to such exceed- 
ingly simple and easy specimens of carpentry 
as can be made by any boy of eleven or twelve 
years of age, or even younger, who has the 
necessary perseverance, and will take sufficient care in 
measuring and fitting. In both and all similar cases, it is 
better for such to buy pieces of board already planed, and 
of nearly the desired size ; but I shall no longer presuppose 
such necessity, but advance the young mechanic to the 
dignity of a plane, and a few more of the more necessary 
and useful tools. The list may therefore now comprise — 

1 Hand Saw, 16 inches or so in length, a full-sized one being almost beyond 

the powers of a boy. 
S Firmer Chisels, quarter, half, and one inch wide. 
1 Mallet.— Chisel handles should never be struck with a hammer, which 

splits the handles. 
1 Hammer. — This should be light. The best way is to buy a hammer-head, 

and make the handle. A heavy one can be added, but will hardly 

be required at first, and is useless for light work. 
1 Jack Plane, 1 Smoothing Do.— The jack plane is not usually added to 

a boy'a tool-chest, but it is impossible to plane up a long straight 



30 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

edgn without it ; and as these planes can be had from 12 inches in 

length, I should certainly recommend one, say 12 to 15 inchee. 
3 Gimlets, 3 Bradawls. — One of each of these should be as small as can be 

obtained. Add a medium and a larger one. 
1 Screwdriver, 1 Pincers, 1 Cutting Pliers. — Screwdriver should be of a 

medium size ; the pliers such as are used by bellhangers. 

1 Compasses. — These should be light carpenter's compasses, not such as are 

made of brass and steel. They are very useful. 

2 Gouges. — Carperder^s gouges, not turner's. They will answer for the pre- 

sent, in many cases, to make round holes in boards. The centrebita 

and braces are expensive. 
1 Oil-stone. — There is a cheap and quick-cutting stone called Nova Scotia 

which will answer the purpose well. 
Mortice- GAUGE. — The use of this will be shown presently, 
1 Square, 1 2 Foot Rule, Glue Pot, and Brush. — These are, as before stated, 

indispensable. The rule need not have a brass slide ; the square may 

be made entirely of wood, or with a metal blade 6 to 9 inches in 

length. 

The above, witli tlie addition of a carpenter's brace and 
bit, two or three augers, about three mortice chisels, and a 
hatchet, would suffice for a very large amount of good work. 
Indeed, it represents almost a complete set of tools, the 
only additional ones that are at all likely to be needed being 
a longer (trying) plane, rebate plane, and pair of match, 
or tongue and groove planes. Without any of the latter, 
the young carpenter will find it easy to carry out a good 
many light specimens of his ingenuity. 

It is much better, in general, to work with a few tools, 
and contrive to make them answer all sorts of pm*poses, 
than to lay in a larger and more expensive set at starting, 
for the latter are sure to be abused and kept in bad order, 
because, if one chisel gets blunt, another is taken up, in- 



MORTICE AND TENON JOINTING. 31 



stead of sharpening the first ; and phines and other tools 
are treated in a similar manner, and a carelessness is en- 
gendered fatal to success. It is astonishing how much may- 
be done with few and inefficient tools, but then the utmost 
patience and industry have to be exercised, much as we 
see prevailing among the native workmen of India and 
America, who execute the most beautiful and delicate work 
with tools which, in the hands of a European, would be 
generally simply useless. 

The next work that should be attempted by the young 
mechanic should be mortice and tenon jointing, as used in 
constructing frames of various kinds for doors, window- 
sashes, tables, and other articles of everyday use. Perhaps 
one of the simplest and easiest examples will be a towel- 
horse, which, at any rate, will be of use when completed. 

Now, it may be at once stated, that for work of this kind 
especially, but generally also for all work, it is essential to 
be able to square up truly the several pieces required. This 
will require practice — long and careful practice — and the 
beginner will meet here with his first and chief difficulty, 
but he must not despair. 

It has been presupposed that a strong work -bench, table- 
plank mounted upon trestles, or some sort of tolerably 
efficient and firm bench has been obtained, or is accessible, 
and, in addition, a strong stool upon which to saw, cut out 
mortices, and so forth. A small carpenter's bench, with a 



3* 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



wooden vice, is most handy and serviceable, but is not 
absolutely necessary. It will be easy to make one by and 
by ; for the present, any available substitute must be used. 
The height of the proposed towel-rail may equal the length. 
About 2 feet 6 inches will be a fair size, and it may be of the 
simplest possible form, such as is here delineated (Fig. 15). 



ri 




Fig 15. 

The upright sides may be made of strips of pine, one inch 
wide and three-quarters of an inch thick — the rails 1^ wide 
and three eighths of an inch thick. The feet will be con 



BO IV TO MAKE A TOWEL-RAIL. 33 

sidered presently. If careful attention is given to the fol- 
lowing directions, not only will the result be certainly 
satisfactory, but the way will be paved for the workmanlike 
construction of a great number of similarly useful articles 

The size of the rough material must always be greatei 
than that ultimately needed, to allow of the necessary waste 
in sawing and planing. Pine boards, however, are usually 
cut of certain general widths and thicknesses; and although 
we have here set down stuff of one inch by three-quarters, 
it may be cut from inch board, because very little will be 
wasted by the plane, and the finished work will be suffi- 
ciently near to the above measure for the intended purpose, 
one-sixteenth of an inch or so being of no practical import- 
ance in the construction of such an article as a towel-rail. 
Get, therefore, from the carpenter, a strip of pine 1 inch 
wide and 6 feet in length, cut from a board 1 inch thick,, 
and also a strip for the rails (of which there will be three),. 
4 inches wide and 2 feet 9 inches long, cut from a half-inch 
board. The rails you are to saw yourself from the latter 
strip, which will give you practice in sawing a straight 
course, and the work is easy in half-inch stuff. You may 
therefore begin by cutting these, for which purpose you) 
will want guide-lines dividing the strip into three of equal 
width. There is a very simple way of marking these by 
means of a chalk line, which I will here describe. 

The width of the board I set down at 4 inches, because 





34 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



the rails, when finished, will be 1^ inches each, or, in all, 
3f inches. As each contains eight eighths, as already 
explained, 4 inches will contain thirty-two eighths. Divid- 
ing by 3, we shall have ten eighths for each strip, or 1^ 
inches, and two eighths, or a quarter of an inch, to spare 
for waste. Take the compasses, therefore, and open them 
io\\ and a little over (rather less than to the next division, 
on the rule), and take it off at each end of the board 
(Fig 16, A B). 




rig. 16. 

Take off, again, from this to mark the width of the next 
strip, and the board will be divided with sufficient accuracy 
for our present purpose. Take a piece of twine, long 
enough to stretch from end to end of the plank, and some- 
thing over, and tie a knot at one end. Stick a bradawl 
through the string, close to this knot and into the board, 
as seen at C of the same figure. Take a lump of chalk, 
and chalk the line from end to end. Then strain it down 
the board, holding it by the left hand, so that it is stretched 



PLANING. 



35 



from one mark to the other, where the saw-cut is to be 
made. With the finger and thumb of the other hand, raise 
it a little in the middle, and let it suddenly go, when it 
will make a perfectly clear and straight line upon the 
board. Make a similar and parallel line for the next saw- 
cut. In the present case, you need not mind cutting this 
chalk mark out. Try and saw right down, so as to split it. 
You now have your strips cut out, but they require to be 
planed. You might, indeed, with advantage, have planed 
the whole strip on both sides before marking and cutting 
it, but it is equally easy to do it afterwards. The jack 
plane is the one to be used for this purpose, I must sup- 





pose it to be sharp and in good order ; if not, ask some 
carpenter to set it for you for the present, but I will soon 
tell you how to do it for yom'self. Indeed, you will have 



36 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

to learn liow to sharpen all your tools before yon can be 
called a good workman. If the plane is properly set, the 
cutting edge will project very slightly only from the 
bottom; so that when held as in Fig. 17, and the eye 
directed along the sole, only a narrow shining slip of 
metal will appear. If too far out, it will hitch and make 
bad work ; if not far enough, it will not cut at all ; but 
the common fault of beginners is to have it too far out, 
because from their imperfect handling of this tool they 
often fail to make it cut, when in the hands of a carpenter 
it would work well. Now, if the iron projects too far, hold 
it as shown, so that you look along the sole, and give it a 
tap with your wooden mallet on the upper face at A, and 
this is also the way to loosen the wedge and irons for 
removal. By a blow at B, you can send the cutting edge 
forward to cut more deeply, or in this case you may tap 
the iron itself with a metal hammer, but tapping the end 
of the wood is better. 

To plane the edges of these strips, you ought to have a 
bench with a vice, but there are ways and means to do 
without it, and one is so good that I shall speak of it here, 
although it necessitates a somewhat abrupt break-off in my 
description of the towel-rail. It is a kind of vice that is 
fixed to a board which is laid upon the work-bench when 
required. 

In Fig. 1 8 is a drawing of one of two kinds of such vices 



HOJF TO MAKE A VICE. 



37 



which I will explain. This first consists of two pieces of 
wood (ash will be better than pine^ about 9 inches long 




■Jllllllliillilllillilliililllliiiiiiliiililli'illll 

Fig. 18. 

and 2 inches thick. They are cut in the shape given in 
the drawing, and screwed to the board, not tightly, but so 
as to move freely upon the screws. The board should be 
an inch thick to give the screws a firm hold. You can see 
by the figure that the tails of the pieces cross each other 
sometimes when in use. To allow of this, they are cut like 
B and C, so that one can go inside the other. Now, if you 
consider a little, you will understand that if we stand a 
Btrip of board between the two, and push it forward against 
the insides of the tails of these curiously-shaped blocks, it 
will make the opposite knobbed ends close nearer together, 
and these will grip the piece of wood, and the harder we 



38 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



push it forward, the more closely it will be gripped and 
held ; but the moment we draw back the piece, the two 
jaws will open to let it go free. You can try first of all 
upon a thin piece, which can be shaped by your knife, and 
make a model of this vice, and then if you can't manage to 
cut out such a one of thick wood, the carpenter would do it 
for you, and it will be handy for many purposes. If you 
have nothing of this kind, nor a vice to your bench, drive 
in two pins or pegs of wood, or two nails, a little way apart, 
so as to allow your strip of wood to stand upon edge be- 
tween them, and drive two more a little way from these; 
then one at the end to form a planing stop. A tap at the 




Fig. 19. 

sides of these nails will cause them to hold the strip edge- 
wise, quite well enough to allow you to plane it. There 



PLANING. 



39 



are other ways, and I shall describe them by and by. In 
the meantime use nails, or any other plan that will answer. 
I shall suppose, therefore, that one of the narrow strips 
is thus set on edge upon your bench ready to be planed. 
Grasp the handle of your plane firmly with the right liand, 
and lay hold of it in front of the iron with the left. Draw 
it back, and then send it steadily forward, pressing it 
downwards at the same time. Now the advantage of a 
long plane is, that it does not descend into the hollows of 
the work, but rests upon the projections, as in Fig. 19, A. 
A short plane would do as seen at B, and therefore would 
never make a long straight edge. You have two special 
points here to attend to. You have to plane a level line 
from end to end, and also keep the edges square to the 
sides, which is by no means easy at first. You must keep 
trying it with your square, as I have shown you in Fig. 20, 




Fig. 20. 

and not rest satisfied until the handle fits close to the side 
of the strip, and the edge lies also close upon that of the 
strip anywhere along its length. I daresay you will think 
this of no importance in such a common thing as a pine 



40 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

towel-horse ; but I may tell you this is the very secret of 
carpenter's work, and when you can saw and plane truly, 
and work " to square," you can make almost anything. It 
is true that the strips for the rails are not of great import- 
ance in this case, but the upright side pieces are, and if 
these are out of truth, the holes cut through them for the 
rails, which are called mortices, will be out of truth also, 
and you will see the towel-horse, when it is made, all 
twisted and awry, and nothing you can do will make it 
stand firm or look well. It is, in short, no use to pretend 
to learn carpentry unless you at once make up your mind 
to succeed, and therefore you must always use the square 
and try your work as you go on. All the difference between 
the usual work of carpenters, and that of boys or men who 
do not know how to work, consists of the squareness and 
good fit of what the former make. Boys never seem to 
trouble themselves about such things, and so you see their 
boxes and rabbit-hutches look twisted, and being badly 
*fitted, they soon go to pieces. 

Having planed up the sides and edges of the rails as 
square and true as you can, cut the other long strip in half, 
and square up this also, taking care that both pieces are 
alike and both truly worked. If your bench is sufficiently 
long to take the whole strip, plane it up before you cut it 
across, and you will be sure to have the sides of your towel- 
rail equal in size. You have now to make your first essay 



MORTICING. 



41 



in cutting mortices. Follow these directions, and you will 
not fail. I shall not limit the description to these special 
mortices, but give you general directions. 
Fig. 21 represents a bar of wood — the side of the towel- 

3, 




horse, for instance — with a mortice cut through it at A, 
and others marked out at a 3, c d. Below, at B, is a gauge, 
of which the construction and use will be explained pre- 
sently. F shows how the feet are to be attached and cut. 
They are morticed while in a " squared-up " condition, and 
shaped afterwards according to fancy ; sometimes they are 
left square, and knobs screwed below to make two feet. 

These mortices may, of course, be of any desired length 
or width. Those required for the towel-rail sides will be 
1^ inch long by half an inch wide nearly. The planing of 
the strips may have reduced them more or less below the 
exact size specified, try therefore with the compasses what 
the precise thickness is of the ends, and measm-e that 



42 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

thickness on your two-foot rule. You now want to draw 
tlie lines a t, which I have represented as extending the 
whole length of the strip, and as all the mortices are to be 
alike, you may so mark them. The gauge B is of two 
parts, a sliding piece, C, and a rectangular bar of wood 
about 9 inches long and half an inch square: This slides 
stiffly through the mortice in C, and is fixed at any part 
by the small wedge D. This gauge you can easily make. 
It is not a mortice gauge properly so called, because the 
latter has two marking points instead of the one seen at k, 
and which may be the point of a brad driven in and filed 
up to an edge. Loosen the wedge slightly, and draw back 
the rectangular bar, or push it forward, until you think that 
the space between the sliding piece and the point is about 
that which is required on each side of the mortices, so that 
if you set the wedge firm, and resting the sliding piece 
against the edge of the board, cause the point to make a 
mark, and repeat this on the other side of the same face of 
the wood, there will be left between the marks thus made 
the exact width of the required mortice. Try it, and if not, 
give a tap to the instrument, and adjust it until the space 
is exactly correct. Then fix all firm, and holding it so that 
the little point will mark the wood, while the head or slid- 
ing piece is against the side of the board, run the tool from 
end to end, or run it along just where the mortices are 
required, using both hands. You will thus make the two 



MORTICING. 43 



long lines between which the mortices have to be cut. Now 
turn the wood over, and do the same on the other side. 
You are now quite sure that these lines, on opposite sides 
of the piece, agree exactly in position, which is the object 
of using a gauge ; and as you have planed up a second strip 
to exactly the size of this first, you have but to repeat the 
process (no measuring being necessary) upon that; and 
you may be satisfied that thus far the two sides of the 
towel-rail will tally. You now set off with the compasses 
upon one of these lines the lengths of the mortices in their 
proper places, and at the j^oints thus marked, using your 
square for the purpose, mark the end lines of these mor- 
tices ; but when so doing, carry the lines across, as a 3, <? d^ 
and down the sides and across the opposite side. With the 
square this will be easily done, the blade of it being laid 
flat^ so that its edge becomes the ruler, while the handle 
becomes the guide or gauge resting against the side of 
the wood. At E, Fig. 21, this position of the square is 
shown. 

By thus carrying round all the lines, you will have the 
mortices marked on both sides in exactly the same relative 
position, so that you can (and must) cut them half from 
one side and half from the other, using the chisel nearest 
to the size required, but always of less width (or length) 
than the mortice, because you must never cut out the guide 
lines, but must keep within them, only carefully paring 



44 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

the wood at last close to them. You will never cut mor- 
tices correctly, unless j^ou thus mark the position on both 
sides, and work as directed. 

The ends of the cross rails will not have to be cut into 
tenons, as they will fit as they are, only requiring to be 
glued into their places, when, if you have worked carefully, 
the whole will look well, and will be square and true, 
without twist ; but if you did not plane up the sides square, 
you will find the towel-rail awry and unworkmanlike. 
Although, however, there is no necessity to make regular 
tenons in the present case, the usual way is to do so, and 
to fix with wedges, as in Fig. 15. After a mortice has 
been cut straight through a piece as directed, this mortice 
is slightly eased, or sloped off, as seen at a b, which is a 
section of one. The rail or tenon c is put through after 
being brushed with glue ; and when in exact position, two 
wedges are glued and driven in at each end, as seen in 
the drawing. After all is dry, these wedges being firmly 
united to the rail, as seen at k, prevent it from being 
drawn back or moved. Nearly all mortice and tenon joints 
are fixed in this way. 

As I am describing this kind of work, I may as well 
explain the method of marking and cutting tenons, as it 
will answer not only for affixing the feet, as shown in Fig. 
21, but for all similar work. 

In Fig. 22, I have illustrated the mode of marking out 



TENONING. 



45 



tenons, and at D is a double tenon, wliicli is in wide jjieces 
often substituted for the single, and makes an excellent 



^ 



W ^ 




f^ 




'^- 






Fig. 22. 



joint. The longitudinal lines e^ f, y, h, are marked as 
before with the gauge, whether for single or double tenons ; 
the line a b, with the assistance of the square ; the cheeks, 
c and d, are then cut off entirely with a fine saw, called on 
this account a tenon-saw, — and care must be taken as before 
not to cut out the guide lines. If, instead of the outer 
cheeks, the piece between them is to be removed to make a 
double tenon, this must be done with mallet and chisel, 
after carefully sawing down the lines x y ; and the chisel is 
to be used first on one side and then on the other, by which 
means the shoulder will be cut true to the guide lines. If, 
however, the cut across should curve a little downwards 
like n, it will not much matter, so long as the edges fit 
closely. It is nevertheless better to cut straight across. 



46 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

The outer cheeks of this will be marked and cut as in the 
single mortice (Fig. 22). 

If a workman has to cut many mortices on pieces of the 
same size, he frequently constructs a rough mortice gauge 
with double points, which marks both sides of the mortice 
at once, like K. A fixed block at K, the right distance 
from the points, I m, of two nails, is sufficient when all the 
mortices are to be alike. There is, however, a regular 
double-pointed gauge, made generally of ebony, plated 
with brass, and a brass rule to which one of the points is 
fixed, and which is acted on by a screw at the end, which 
can be turned by the thumb and finger. This has the effect 
of separating or closing the two points according to the 
desired width of the mortice, its distance from the side of 
the piece being regulated as before by the sliding head fixed 
by a wedge. This is an expensive tool, and need not be 
purchased. There are also, let me add, many costly tools 
of various forms and uses ; but let the boy's motto (and 
man's, too, for all that) be, *' Do as well as you can with- 
out.^'' You have no idea how a little ingenuity and con- 
trivance will save your pockets, and that, too, without in 
the least tending to spoil your work. All you require are 
a few of the most generally useful tools in first-rate condi- 
tion — chisels, saws, and planes, sharp and well set, and fit 
for work at any moment. 

With regard to uniting two pieces of wood or other 



GLUE. 47 

material with glue, it must be remembered that if you use 
this substance in a thick semifluid state, and in quantity, 
its effect will be lost. Make it a rule to put on as thin a 
coat as possible, and let it be not thicker than cream, so 
that it will freely flow into corners, and spread evenly over 
the surfaces to be united. Make the wood also quite warm, 
80 that the glue shall not be suddenly chilled, and let it be 
used boiling. Always heat it either in a proper glue-pot, 
or at any rate, place the vessel which contains it (a small 
gallipot, for instance) inside another vessel in which water 
can be kept boiling. 

The glue, which should be thin and transparent, being 
broken into small pieces, should be put into such a vessel 
as suggested, and covered with cold water, and it should 
be allowed to remain thus until swollen and softened. 
Then bring the water in the outer vessel to the boiling 
point, and do not use the glue until it is entirely dissolved 
and of one uniform consistence. It should be stirred while 
boiling with a piece of stick, and a brush used to lay it 
upon the pieces to be joined. It very generally happens 
that pieces glued by boys fall apart almost directly. This 
is almost entirely due to the fact that the glue is used thick 
and clotty, and in too great quantity, while the wood is 
never made warm as it should be. If two pieces are pro- 
perly joined in this way, it is almost impossible to separate 
them at the joint — the wood itself will give way and split 



4« THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

before the glue will yield to the strain. Carpenters use 
various forms of clamps or vices to hold work together 
until the glue shall be dry ; but for boys by far the best 
plan, where any such holdfast is needed, is to bind the 
parts together with twine, and then to set them aside for 
twelve hours at least. It is seldom that articles once 
united by glue and separated will unite firmly a second 
time. 




Chapter IV. 



^_j3^]HE exercise of a boy's mecliaiiical tastes upon 




works of practical utility is, of course, far pre- 
ferable to its expenditure upon mere trifles, made 
one day to be cast aside and destroyed the next ; 
and as there is scarcely any household that does not need! 
its furniture repaired or added to from time to time, I shall' 
now give directions for the construction of one or two- 
articles that seem to be within fair scope of a young 
mechanic's abilities. The first is a plain, useful table, with- 
out a drawer, and with square legs, because without a lathe- 
the latter cannot be made ornamental ; and lathe work 
will occupy some future pages, since it is necessary first to^ 
give the young mechanic a fair insight into the principle* 
and practice of plain carpentry and joinery. 

The very young mechanic, so far as my experience of 
him goes (and it is rather extensive), makes his early" 
attempt by sticking the points of four nails into the cor- 
ners of any tolerably square piece of board he can hiy hands 



50 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

on. His next attempt, when he has risen to the dignity 
of a knife and gimlet, is to place four wooden legs at the 
corners of a similar board, which, if the said legs are glued 
in (by which a wonderful mess is always made of the 
structure), is considered a great feat, and worthy of the 
admiring patronage of fond parents and playmates. Now, 
a table does not consist of any such arrangement of pieces, 
although I certainly have seen sometimes, in the cottages 
of the poor, a three-legged affair of this nature, which is 
just nothing more than a magnified milking-stool. We 
cannot content ourselves now with anything of the kind. 
We shall have to work away with plane and chisel and 
square, and with neat tenon and mortice joints first con- 
struct the frame upon which the top will be placed, and 
then finish it secundum artem, the English of which, as I 
am writing to boys, I shall not reveal. 

The table shall be 3 feet long, 1 foot 8 inches wide, 2 
feet 4 inches high ; the top board being half an inch thick 
when planed and fitted, for which it will therefore be re- 
quired to be three-quarters of an inch in the rough. The 
legs demand attention first. Plane up strips cut from a 
2-inch board, and let them be exactly 2 inches wide. Tliese 
must be worked up with the greatest possible accuracy, or 
it will be impossible to fit the framework so as to make the 
table stand truly or bear inspection. After four such strips 
have been planed up, cut a piece from a half-inch board, or 



IfOlV TO MAKE A TABLE. 51 

from a board that will plane to half an inch. Let this be 
4 inches wide and 9 feet long, and be sure to plane this 
also truly, and to make the edges square to the sides. 

If you have no strip that will answer of 9 feet long, yon 
can cut two or more instead, remembering that you will 
require two pieces each 18 inches long and two of 2 feet 9 
at the least, all as nearly alike in width as possible. You 
have now all that you will need for the framework of your 
table — the top may be left till the rest is fitted. Now you 




Fig. 23. 

may proceed to cut the requisite mortices in the legs, which 
you will understand by sketch Fig. 23, which represents 
one corner of the table before the top is added. There is 



52 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

no more difficulty in this tlian in the previous work, except 
perhaps that somewhat more care is requisite in squaring 
up the several pieces and cutting the mortices with accuracy. 
Use the gauge as before in marking the mortices, trying it 
until it is so fixed that it will leave the proper width of the 
holes, namely, half an inch (which is the thickness of the 
strips which are to form the framework). This is upon 
the supposition that your gauge has but one marking 
point : but to explain its use. 

I shall now introduce to your notice a regular mortice- 
gauge of two points, which is vastly more convenient. 
This is represented in Fig. 24. The main stem is grooved 




Fig. 24. 

along its length on one side with a dovetailed slit, that is, a 
groove which is wider below than above. This is generally 
made in a brass plate attached to the stem of the gauge, 
but sometimes in the wood itself. In this slides a slip of 
brass which can be drawn back by pulling the knob A, or 
by L'lrring a thumbscrew at one end, as in the more expen- 
sive gauges. One of the marking points is fixed in the end 
of this slide, the other in the wood (or metal) beyond it, at 



HOW TO MAKE A TABLE. 53 

B, and when these are allowed to be together they form 
but one point, being flattened on one side, so that they will 
fit accurately against each other. Thus it is easy to separate 
the two points at pleasure to the exact width of the requu-ed 
mortice. By means of the wedged sliding piece C, we now 
have merely to determine how far the edge of the mortice 
is to be from one side of the piece. Thus, suppose that in 
the present case we should prefer to have the side of the 
frame nearer to the outside edge of the legs than to the 
inside, we can so arrange it easily ; but we must then take 
care to gauge all alike, either from the inside edge or the 
outside. We do not, therefore, with this kind of gauge 
work from both edges, and leave the space between the lines 
for the width of the mortice, but we work from one edge 
only of the piece of wood, and mark the mortice at once in 
any desired position. I need hardly repeat, that for an}' 
particular job, a very good substitute for such gauge can 
be made by driving two small nails into a strip of wood cut 
with a projecting piece to serve instead of the movable 
head. 

Let us now proceed with the work in hand. One of the 
legs of the table, before being worked into shape, is shown 
in Fig. 25 ; the dotted lines show how it will be eventually 
sloped off below the mortices which carry the top frame. 
These mortices must not now go through the legs, and 
therefore you will have to be very careful to hold the chisel 



54 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



upright, so as to insure the squareness of the frame when 
put together. The mortices heing in adjacent sides, will of 




Fig. 26. 

course meet, but it will be advantageous to cut those which 
are intended to receive the two longest strips, viz"., the 
front and back, rather deeper than the other two. First 
set off an inch from the top of the leg at the line A B. If 
less than this intervenes between the top of the mortice 
and the end of the leg, you will probably break the piece 
out and spoil your work. As the side boards are 4 inches 



HOIV TO MAKE A TABLE. 55 

wide, and must come flusli with the top of the legs, you 
will have to cut them like C, and there will be 3 inches left 
for the tenon, all of which may he left, as the wider this is 
the more hold it will have on the legs into which it is to be 
glued. It is plain, therefore, that the mortice will be 3 
inches long and half an inch wide; and when you have 
marked it to this size, take care to cut it accurately, be- 
cause if it is too small, you will break out the piece between 
the mortices when you try to force in the frame pieces, and 
if too large, you will scarcely get the whole to remain secure. 
Work therefore exactly to gauge. It is usual to keep these 
side and end pieces more to the outside of the legs than the 
inside, as F, where you are supposed to be looking at the 
inside corner; and if you look at D (which shows the top or 
cross section of a leg, as if after the pieces were fitted you 
had sawn off the leg close down to the mortices, exposing 
them to view), you will see that by thus keeping near the 
outside edges you get both mortices deeper than if you cut 
them, like E, in the middle of the sides of the leg. Of 
course, the deeper these tenons are let into the legs, the 
stronger their hold will be. There will now only remain to 
warm all the pieces and glue them into their respective 
places, with the precautions before stated as to the thin- 
ness of the glue and speed of the operation. See that all 
stands square and true ; if not, a tap here and there as 
required will set it straight, and then let all stand till dry. 



S6 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



I have told you to cut the side and end pieces 18 inches 
and 2 feet 9 respectively, so that if the mortices are \\ 
inches or so deep, your frame will be about 1 foot 6 inches 
wide, and 2 feet 6 inches long. The top, which is to over- 
lap as usual, will be now prepared as follows. It will not 
be possible to make this of a single width of board ; and 
nothing will more fully test the ymg workman's skill, 
than planing the edges of two pieces so that they shall fit 
accurately together. It must, nevertheless, be attempted. 

Cut two pieces of three-quarter-inch board, and plane 
the sides as accurately as possible. Then set them up 
edgewise, either singly or together, and plane the edges 
with steady, long strokes of the longest plane you have, 
set fine — that is, with the cutting edge projecting but 
slightly. Try each singly with the square from end to 
end, and then lay them on any perfectly flat surface, as on 
your bench, or on a table, and see whether the edges lie 
close all along. Remember, too, that they may do so 
when one surface is upwards, and not when turned over, as 
will occur when the edges are not square to the sides. In 
cutting out the pieces, therefore, — which, when finished, 
are to be together 1 foot 8 inches, — you should make them 
1 foot 9, so as to allow you a whole inch to waste in plan- 
ing and fitting. When both are as true as you can get 
them, lay them down near together, and brush the edges 
with boiling hot glue. Then immediately put them to- 



HOW TO MAKE A TABLE. 57 

gether, and rub them a few seconds one against the other, 
till they seem to stick slightly. Then leave them in their 
exact position, and drive a couple of nails into the bench 
against the outside edges, so as to keep them together, or 
in any other way wedge them tightly in position until they 
are quite dry. When the glue is hard which has been 
squeezed out along the joint, you may run a plane all over 
the united boards, and you ought hardly to see the joint, 
which will be nearly as strong as any other part. 

This top has now to be attached to the frame, as follows. 
Cut some pieces like K in Fig. 25, and glue them here and 
there along the inside edges of the frame, so that one side 
of them shall come quite flush with the upper edge. To 
these the top has to be glued. Lay it, therefore, with its 
under side upwards, upon the floor (I suppose the short 
pieces glued and dry on the frame), and having also glued 
the sides of the short pieces which will touch the under 
side of the table top, turn the whole upside down, with its 
legs in the air, adjusting it quickly. Its own weight will 
keep it in position until dry ; or, if not, it is easy to lay an 
odd board or two across, and put some weights upon them. 
When dry, turn over your table, and plane round the edges 
where necessary ; and, if it does not stand very well, trim 
the bottoms of the legs. Clean off glue, and rub any rough 
places with sandpaper or glasscloth, filling up any acci- 
dental holes with putty, after which it will be fit for receiv- 



58 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

ing paint or stain, if it is not considered desirable to leave 
it wliite. The corners and edges of the top may be rounded 
off, to give a finished appearance. 

I showed by dotted lines the usual shape of the squared 
legs. They are planed off, tapering from below the frame, 
and this should be done after the mortices are cut, and 
before fitting the parts together. The best way to insure 
equal taper of all the legs, is to prick off at the bottom of 
each equal widths from the corners or edges, and to run a 
pencil line from the point where the taper is to begin to 
these marks. Then plane exactly to the lines thus made. 

Let us now consider what errors of construction are most 
likely to occur in working out these directions. First, it 
is possible that the framework may be out of square. This 
may proceed from two causes. In the first place, the side 
or end pieces may not be of equal length between the legs, 
owing to some one or two being driven further into their 
mortices than the others. To avoid this, which is not un- 
common in many works of a similar nature, it is well 
always to mark the length that each is to be, u-respective 
of the part within the mortices, as Fig. 26, A and B. 
K the space on each between the dotted lines (carefully 
marked hj means of a square^ is equal, it is no matter 
whether C and D are also equal. We have only to take 
care to let them into the mortices to a greater or less depth, 
until the line comes exactly even with the inside edge of 



now TO MAKE A TABLE. 



59 



the legs. Again, it is possible that when the table is 
placed upon its legs, these may not rest truly on the floor. 



cA 



B D 



— , . ■ . — - 

C D 

. I 



w 



Fig. 26. 

Probably one or two of the frame pieces run up like E, 
instead of standing at right angles to the legs. This re- 
sults from the mortice not being cut correctly ; and as you 
cannot, in this case, mark both sides and cut from both, 
as you did in making the towel-horse, this is not unlikely 
to happen. It will not, therefore, signify much if you 
purposely cut your mortices a little too long^ and then, 
when you have placed the table on its legs, after gluing 
up the frame, and before it is dry, you can force it to stand 



6o 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



truly, and then wedge up ■witli glued wedges where neces- 
sary. You cannot, however, do this with the sides of your 
mortices, because you require these to fit exactly ; you 
must therefore use extra care in keeping these as true as 
possible. In many cases you can wedge the ends of tenons 
to correct a bad fit, but never the sides. These are the 
probable, or I will QSij possible, faults against which to be 
on your guard. 

In making a similar table with a drawer, the same opera- 
tions have to be gone through, but the upper frame is some- 




Fig. 27 



what di\ferently constructed, and the corners of the drawer 
are united with dovetails. Plane up the legs as before, 



HOW TO MAKE A TABLE. 6i 

but cut mortices as at A. Fig. 27, which represents the 
right-hand hinder leg as you would see it standing in front 
of the table, and before the framework had been fitted in 
its place. B is the other hind leg, with the tenoned strips 
just ready to be driven in. The piece E is made as before, 
as is also C and its opposite piece at the ends of the table. 
But this pair of mortices, you see, are made shorter than 
before, and the strip C is notched at the bottom as well as 
at the top, forming a regular tenon, as it is called. Below 
this first is a second mortice, cut the other way, the longest 
side standing across the leg to receive a strip, D, upon 
which afterwards another strip, X, will be nailed or glued, 
forming the rebate in which the drawer will slide, and of 
which the upper surface must be level with that of the strip 
M. There is a plane for cutting out rebates without the 
necessity of adding a strip, but I do not suppose you as 
yet to have such a one. When these pieces, C and D, are 
driven up close into their places, they will touch along 
their sides, so that on the outside they will appear as one 
piece. Of course there will be a similar pair on the right- 
hand side of the table. D ought to be tenoned, so that the 
bide on which X is to be nailed will lie flush or level with 
the corner of the leg, so that the strip X shall project 
wholly beyond it. 

The \Qii-'h2i\\A front leg is shown at P, with its mortices, 
and the tenoned strips between which the front of the 



62 THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

drawer will lie, closely fitting when shut. These front 
strips should be each 2 inches wide, the mortices 1 inch 
long, or as long as you can safely cut them ; you must 
tenon the cross pieces, of course, to fit these. 

All the rails may be of half-inch board. Mark all tenons 
across with the square as before, so as to give the exact 
inside dimensions, and you cannot well go wrong. These 
lines, too, will guide you in keeping the framework square 
and true ; for if you have planed the legs correctly, and 
your strips are inserted exactly to the aforesaid lines, it 
stands to reason the work will be satisfactory. To make 
the drawer, observe, first, that it is not like a box as most 
boys would make it, for when turned upside down, as in 
Fig. 28, Fig. B, you will find the sides projecting beyond 
the bottom, which projections rest in the rebate, X, of the 
last figure, and take the whole weight of the drawer, en- 
abling it to slide easily and smoothly in and out, especially 
if those surfaces which are in contact are rubbed with soap 
or blacklead, or a mixture of the two. At C you have a 
drawing of the same, with the bottom removed. This, you 
see, is a square or oblong frame dovetailed together, and 
when it is glued and dry, the bottom is slid in along the 
grooves in the sides (one of which is seen at x x), and a 
couple of brads driven through it into the back rail, K, 
fixes it completely. The front board of the drawer is cut 
and planed to fit exactly between the two rails which were 



HOW TO MAKE A DRAWER. 



63 



morticed into the legs, as shown in the last fig., and is 
always of thicker stufi" than the sides or bottom. It may, 
in the present case, be half-inch, and the rest quarter-inch. 




Fig. 28. 

If you look at C, you will observe that the front and 
sides of the drawer are of the same depth, and that only 
the back is narrower. (Uemember that in this cut the 
drawer is seen from below, the groove x x being near the 
bottom of the sides, and level with the bottom of the back.) 

To cut dovetails is not difficult, but requires neatness 
and care — a fine saw (dovetail or light tenon-saw) and a 
really sharp chisel ; and, above all things, remember not 



64 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

to cut out the lines which have been drawn as guides. H ia 
the end of the front of the drawer ; L the left side. Having 
cut out the latter, and planed it up nicely, draw a line, by the 
aid of the square, one quarter or three eighths of an inch 
from the end across it. This will be the line op of the bottom 
of the dovetails. Then mark and cut out two or three, as 
seen in the drawing, using the saw where you are able, and 
clearing out with the chisel in other places. From o jo, 
measure the exact inside width of your drawer, and beyond 
the second line made across at that distance, leave a quarter 
of an inch for the second dovetails, and cut them out as 
you did the first. Now, prepare a second precisely similar 
piece for the opposite side. Next lay L in place upon H 
very truly, and with a fine-pointed hard j)encil, or a scriber 
(a sharp-pointed steel marker), trace round the dovetails, 
marking them on the end of H, and with a sharp chisel 
cut them in a quarter of an inch deep, which will allow 
them to take the side piece exactly flush and level. Mark 
these two which have been so fitted, and proceed to do the 
same at the other end of the front piece, tracing these, as 
before, from the dovetails of the opposite side, which are to 
be there inserted. You do exactly the same with the back 
piece ; but as this is both narrower and thinner, the dove- 
tails will be cut quite through it, and will be seen on both 
pieces after being glued up, and there will only be room 
for one dovetail, instead of two. When all are cut, lay the 



HOW TO MAKE A DRA WER. 65 

pieces in position, glue quickly, press all together, and 
contrive to wedge up or bind round the whole until dry, 
testing with the square and adjusting, as maybe necessary. 
We shall return to dovetailing again, but these not requir- 
ing excessive neatness, will be a good beginning, and show 
you in what special points care is needed in such work. 
Nothing remains but to plane a piece for the bottom, and 
slide it into place. 




Chapter V. 




N the last chapter we entered a little upou the 
matter of dovetails, but as the mode of uniting 
the angles of boxes, drawers, and such like, is 
of almost universal application, it will be as well 
to devote a separate short chapter to the subject. 

There are several different kinds of dovetails used, accord- 
ing as it may be desired to let them appear upon the finished 
work, or wholly or in part to conceal them. Carpenters 
generally use the kind which is visible on both sides, 
cabinetmakers, as a rule, take special pains to conceal it, 
only using the other form upon work that is to be after- 
wards covered with veneer (a thin covering of some 
ornamental and more expensive wood glued upon the 
surface of that which is of less vdlue, and of which the 
article is made). 

The dovetail described in the last chapter, as proper for 
the attachment of the sides to the front of a drawer, is not 
that which is ordinarily used by the carpenters, but the 



DO VETAILING. 67 



following, whicli is somewhat more easy to make, and is 
the same as would be used for the other corners of such 
a common drawer as that described. 

I must at the outset remind my young readers once again 
of the standard rule, without due attention to which they 
have no Jwpe of success in this neat and delicate operation 
of carpentry. Never cut out your guide lines, but leave them 
upon your work, and use your square diligently upon the 
edges of your work, the bottom of the dovetails, sides of the 
same, and upon the sides of the pins. Never mind the 
time necessary for this. You are doing work, remember, 
that is to bear inspection, — work that will stand wear, and 
be really useful in the household to which you have the 
honour to belong. You would not therefore like to see 
open spaces here and there, requiring to be filled up with 
putty, or the side of the box not truly square to the back 
and front. And it may be noted here, that if dovetails are 
properly fitted together, the box or other article will stand 
firm, even before the glue is added; but if the same are 
badly cut, and put together carelessly, no amount of glue 
will avail to hold the work securely ; and it would have been 
as well or better never to have attempted dovetailing, as 
such bad work would be stronger united by nails, and in 
any case is but a disgrace to the young amateur mechanic^ 
Vhose motto should always be, *' Whatever is worth doing at 
all is worth doing welV 



68 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



You will remember how you were taught to wedge up 
mortice and tenon joints with glued wedges, which, becom- 
ing part of the tenon, and rendering it larger below than 









Fig. 29. 

above, prevents it from being withdrawn from the mortice. 
Now, a single dovetail has the same effect, and is in point 
of fact of the same shape and size as the tenon with its 



DOVETAILING. 69 



wedges attached. See Fig. 29, A and B, the first being 
wedged tenon, the second a dovetail. 

We shall begin with a single dovetail, which is applied to 
the construction of presses used by bookbinders and others, 
and also domestically for house-linen. In these there is a 
strong tendency to draw the sides upwards, and to tear them 
from the bottom — a strain which this form of joint is exactly 
calculated to withstand. The same is also used in making 
many kinds of frames, where similar strength in one 
direction is necessary. If you have no special need of such 
at present, you should nevertheless make one or two for 
practice, and to give you a better insight into their con- 
struction. Indeed, if you cannot make single dovetails 
well, you will hardly succeed in making a whole row of them 
exactly alike, for joining together other articles, as drawers, 
boxes, and cabinets. C of this fig. represents a bar of wood 
truly squared up, and ready for being marked out. The 
square is laid across it as seen, and a line drawn on each 
side by its assistance, as far from one end as is the thick- 
ness of the other piece to which it is to be attached, and a 
little over (say one-eighth of an inch) which will afterwards 
be neatly planed off. This is allowed merely because the 
extreme angles at e ^ sometimes get damaged in cutting 
out the dovetail, and if they are, they will have to be 
removed. Having drawn the above line all round the 
piece, divide it into three by the aid of your compasses, as 



70 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



shown, on what we may call the front and hack, and then 
on both these sides draw lines, e e, to the angle. You now 
have the dovetail, or rather the pin of the dovetail, marked, 
and with a fine saw you have only to cut out this piece as 
you see at D, taking great care to cut accurately close to 
the lines, but to leave them, nevertheless, on the edge of the 
piece you are about to use. 

If you can saw truly, you should not have to touch these 
pieces with a chisel, but if not, you must take a very sharp 
one, and pare the wood exactly true to the lines which you 
have marked. Now the dovetail made by dividing the 
width of the stuff into three, as given here, will not answer 
so well for pine, which is liable to split off in the line H H 
of the fig. D ; but for ash, beech, elm, and such like, it is a 
good proportion. If the material, therefore, is pine, divide 
it into four instead of three, as seen at E, and draw lines to 
the angles from the two outer marks ; or, without any such 
division, set out equal distances from each side, so as to 
give about this propoi'tion to the pieces which are to be 
cut out. 

Where there are a row of dovetails to be made (as in 
cabinet work), even this latter measurement into four would 
make them too angular, as you Avill learn presently. You 
must now fix upright in your vice the piece in which is to 
be cut the dovetail to receive this pin ; and laying the latter 
in place as it will be when the frame or other work is put 



DOVETAILING. 71 

togetlier, di-aw round it with a sharp pencil or scriber, as 
seen on the end of K (the lines c d, at such distance from 
the end of the piece as is the thickness of the pin, and the 
perpendiculars, a b, are to be drawn with the square) ; and 
if the angles of such pin do not reach the angles of that in 
which the dovetail is to be cut, as will often be the case, the 
lines on the opposite side similar to a b must be also drawn 
with the square. So you see that I was quite right in 
directing you to add a square to your box of tools, even 
before many other requisites of carpentry. 

If it is not considered desirable that the dovetail 
should reach the extreme angles of the pieces, as a b, fig. 
K, the pin piece is first marked as if for an ordinary tenon, 
and the dovetailed pin marked on this, as M. When the 
fellow-piece is cut out, it will then appear as K The efi'ect 
will be the same as the last, except that the end of the pin 
will be more conspicuous. A great deal depends upon the 
material, and on the intended use of the finished article, 
therefore you must use your own judgment, or consult that 
of others better acquainted with the art than yourself. 
L shows the dovetailed joint complete as last de- 
scribed. 

We now recur to the row of dovetails and pins — or dove- 
tails and sockets, as the part is often called which is to receive 
the pins. The most common kind is that represented by A 
B, Fig. 30 ; and as you ought now to be thinking of a larger 



72 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 



tool-box, and would not like it rouglily nailed together like 
the first, you might try your skill by constructing one 
more worthy of the name, and with a drawer or two in it 




Fig. 30. 

You must begin, as before, by marking the two lines across 
your work by the edge of the square, or, if you prefer it, by 
your gauge, which, when set to the thickness of one piece, 
will mark the others correctly ; and remember to mark both 



DOVETAILING. 73 



iides. Then set out your dovetails, but do not make them 
so angular as you did the single one ; for remember you 
have a whole row of them to assist in holding the work 
together, and when glued, this will be of necessity a very 
strong and reliable joint, if well made. 

Always make the pins before the sockets, and mark 
round them as closely as possible, and take great care when 
sawing not to break them, and if possible keep their angles 
also very sharp and clean. It is solely care in these parti- 
culars, and accurate cutting just to the gauge lines and no 
further, that makes carpenters' work generally so superior 
to that of amateurs, and boys especially are generally care- 
less, and in too great a hurry to get the work done, that 
they may go to something else. Remember, therefore, that 
when you begin to hurry your work, you begin to spoil it. 

I have made the drawings of the three principal dove- 
tailed joints so plain as to render special description almost 
unnecessary after the remarks already made. The second 
and third, however, may need a few words, as they differ 
slightly from that used in the drawer, of which a description. 
has been given, chiefly because the piece in which the 
dovetails are, is, in this case, as thick as that used for the 
sockets. 

Suppose the dovetails oMd pins marked out ready to be 
cut. Take your marking-gauge and set the slide about a 
quarter of an inch froi« the point, and run a lin^, across the 



74 THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

ends of the two pieces at A B, and at C D, and also at E F 
.Stop at A B when you cut the sockets, and take care to get 
the bottoms of these quite square and even. Cut the dove- 
tails or pins as directed in making the drawer, but stop on 
the lines ey"and g h (the latter also to be made with the 
gauge on both edges of the work), thus the two pieces will, 
of necessity, fit nicely together, and only a single line will 
appear a little way from one corner. If all lines are made 
with gauge and square, this form of dovetail may require 
neatness and care, but will not be beyond the skill even 
of a young mechanic. I should indeed advise that every 
opportunity be taken of joining pieces of wood with tenon 
or with dovetail, because, after all, these are the chief 
difficulties to be encountered. If you can square up your 
work, and make true-fitting joints, there is little in carpen- 
try and joinery that you cannot accomplish. 

The third example is worked exactly like the second, but 
instead of leaving square the pieces projecting beyond the 
dovetails and pins, these are sloped off or bevelled carefdly 
from the extreme corners down to the pins and sockets. 
The result is, that when put together, no joint appears, as 
it is exactly upon the angle. There is no neater or stronger 
method than this of joining the sides oi drawers, boxes, 
trays, and such like articles. The cabinetmaker employs 
no other for heavy work ; only when it is very light does he 
make use of a plan, the appearance of which is (when 



MITRING. 75 



finished) like the last-described, but it is less trouble to 
make, and less strong, yet sufficiently so for many j)ur- 
poses. This method is called mitring .^ and is accom- 
plished in the following way. 

The wood (let it be for a small tray) is prepared as usual, 
truly and evenly, and the ends exactly square to the sides. 
If you use stuff about a quarter or half an inch thick, or 
even an eighth (the first or last being suitable for such 
light work), you can make a mitred joint with the help of 
the gauge alone, but frequently a mitre-hoard or mitre-box 
is used, which saves some trouble in measuring and mark- 
ing. It is well, however, that you should begin with this 
trouble, and take up the easier method afterwards ; espe- 
cially as it will in this case give you a simple lesson in 
mathematics, and teach you some of the properties of the 
figure called a square. Let us commence with this lesson. 

A, B, C, D, Fig. 31, is a square; the lines at the 
opposite sides are parallel, — that is, they are exactlj' the 
same distance apart from one end to the other. To make 
this clear, E and F are given, which are not parallel, for 
they are further apart at one end than they are at the 
other. And as A B is parallel to C D, and A C parallel 
to B D, so A B is perpendicular to B D and to A C, or 
what we have called square to it, as you would find with 
your square, which is made, as you know, to prove your 
work in this respect. The consequence is, that the angles 



76 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



(or corners) are all alike, and are called right angles. 
Understand what is meant by angles being the same size 
or alike. M and H are alike, though the lines of one are a 



znoV- 





36 




36 


"x ^N 


N 


1 ' ' 



3C0" 



\ 



Fig. 31. 
great deal longer than those of the other ; but though the 
lines of K and H are the same length, the angle K is 
much smaller than that at H. 

As 1 have gone a little into this subject, I will go a 
little further, for it is as well that jou should learn all 
about the sizes of angles, and I only know of one way in 
which to make the matter clear 



MITRING. 77 



Every circle, no matter how small or large, is supposed 
to be divided into 360 equal parts, called degrees. That 
large circle which forms the circumference of the earth is- 
considered to be so divided. Now, if we draw lines from 
all these divisions to the centre, they will meet there, and 
form a number of equal angles. I have not divided the 
circle P all round, because it would make so many angles 
that you could not see them clearly ; but I have put 360 at 
the top, and then 45, which means, that if I had marked 
all the divisions, there would be 45 up to that point. 
Then at 45 more I have marked 90, and so on, marking 
each 45th division, and from these I have drawn lines to 
the centre of the circle. Now, if you understand me so 
far, we shall get on famously. Look at the line from 360 
to the centre, and that from 90°, and see where they join. 
This is a right angle, and this is the angle at each corner 
of a square. At N, I have drawn this separately to make 
it clear, and you see I have taken a quarter of the circle, 
or the quadrant^ as it is called, of 90°. And you now see 
that I might extend the lines beyond the circle to any 
extent, but it would make no difference, — ^we should still 
have 90° of a circle, only the cu-cle would be larger, as 
those which are partly drawn with the dotted lines. 

Now, all angles are thus measured by the divisions of 
a circle ; the line at 45, which meets the line from 360 at 
the centre, makes with it an angle of 45°, which is half a 



78 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

riglit angle. A line drawn at 30° would make an angle of 
30 with tlie same line from 360, and so on right round ; 
only when two lines come exactly opposite one another, as 
300 and 180, or 270 and 90, these make no angles — they 
are but one straight line passing through the centre, and 
are called diameters of the circle, a word which means 
measure through^ or across the circle. Now, the corners of 
a square frame, or of a drawer or box, are right angles of 
90°. At R, I have drawn such a corner of a frame, and if 
I place one point of a pair of compasses at e^ and draw a 
circle cutting through the lines of the sides of the frame, 
you see I should make it 90°, or a quadrant, like N. 
Moreover, if I draw the sides of the frame as if they 
crossed as at e E,, I draw a small square, and the line 
^ R is the diagonal of such square '. e ^ is the mitred 
joint I have to cut. Look at T S and you will see this, 
as here the two sides of the frame are represented as cut 
ready to be joined together. 

A square has another quality: all its sides are equal, 
and this is very important, and will help us in cutting out 
the work, x Y represents the strip of wood to be properly 
sloped off for a mitred joint. With a gauge such as that 
just above x, or your regular marking gauge, set off on 
the side Y a distance equal to a: a; (the width of the 
pieces) ; join a? ^ by a line, and you will have the right 
slope. Why ? Because when you measured with the gauge 



MITRING. 79 



you marked the two equal sides of a square, and x h is the 
didgonal of it, whicli is exactly the same as you had at 
e B,. By measuring in this way, therefore, you can, if 
your strips are already truly squared up, always mark out 
a mitred joint correctly. The two little angles at x and b 
are also, I should point out, equal — each half of a right 
angle or 45°, and the other strip or side of the frame will 
make up the other half right angle, or complete the exact 
square of 90**. 

In all this I have clearly laid down the principles of 
mitred joints, and given you a lesson in mathematics. I 
shall now, therefore, go on to the work of practical con- 
struction (Fig. 32). You must be very careful to make the 
edge B square to the side A, as in all other work which I 
have explained to you ; or, if this side is moulded like the 
front of a picture-frame, you must square the edge with 
the back. After having cut all the pieces, you have to 
glue them and fasten them together. Warm them, and 
use the glue boiling, as directed before, and quickly lay the 
pieces together. To do so effectually, you must place them 
flat on a board or on your bench, and having adjusted 
them, you can tie a strong cord round the whole, putting 
little bits of wood close to the corners, so that the string 
shall not mark your work, if such marks would be of con- 
sequence. Or you can wedge up strongly in another way. 
If you look at you will see a square representing a frame 



8o 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



with eight spots round it. These are nail heads, and mark 
the position of eight nails driven round but not touching 
the frame into the bench. Then, having prepared eight 
Bmall wedges, drive them in between the frame and the 
nails. 

You will find this as simple and easy a way of keeping the 
frame together as any, and all must remain till the glue is 
dry and hard — ^probably till the same hour on the following 
day ? Then remove the wedges and take up your frame, 
which should be trim and strong. Nevertheless, you are 
now to add considerably to the strength of it in one or both 
of the following ways. 

With a mitre-saw or tenon-saw cut one or two slits at 
each angle, as seen at D, Fig. 32, e and/. Cut little pieces 



c^=i. 




Fig. 82. 

of thin wood, and having glued them, drive them into these 
slits. If you saw them slanting, some tending upwards 
and some downwards, it will be better than cutting straight 
into the frame. Then, when all is dry, neatly trim oflP 



MITRING. 8 1 



these pieces even with the frame. You may also, if the 
work is of a more heavy kind, as a large picture-frame, 
finish with keyed mitres, g. Cut a place with a chisel of 
the shape here shown, about one-eighth of an inch deep, 
half into one piece and half into the other. Then cut out 
a key of the same form of thin hard wood, to fit exactly, 
and glue it in. The shape of the key prevents the joint 
from coming apart, and makes it very strong and durable. 
A very large number of light boxes are made with mitred 
joints, as workboxes, water-colour boxes, compass-boxes,. 
and such like ; and you can examine these for yourself; but 
you will not often see the keys at the angles, because most 
of such boxes are veneered, or covered when finished with 
a thin layer of some ornamental wood. 

I shall now proceed to show you how these joints can be 
cut at once without the trouble of gauging and measuring 
to find the proper angle. Therefore I shall let you into the 
secret of mitring boxes and mitring boards, which, if you. 
had much to do of this kind, would shorten your work, 
considerably. 

Fig. 33, A, represents a mitring-board, B a mit ring- 
box. We must go into a little mathematics again, and try 
to understand these, because, if you do so, you may devise' 
others, occasionally more suitable for any special work youi 
have in hand. 

First, look at D of this figure. You have a line, a b, 

F 



%2 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



1^ 



OD 











^,' 



MITRING BOARDS AND BOXES. 83 

standing upon another C D, and perpendicular to it — that 
is, it leans neither to the right nor to the left. It makes 
two angles at 3, one on each side of a b, and these are 
angles of 90°, or right angles, as I explained. Now, if one 
line like a h stands on another, these two angles are 
together equal to 180°, or twice 90°, whether this line is or is 
not upright or perpendicular to the other. Look at fig. C. 
Here you have the line x a?, and standing on it several 
others ; one, a 3, is upright or perpendicular, making with it 
two angles of 90° each, or 180° together. Now, takey h, and 
suppose this to make 45° on the right-hand side, you see it 
makes therefore a proportionately larger angle on the other. 
It makes, in fact, an angle of 135°. But 135° added to 45° 
equals 180°, which is the same as before, and whichever 
line you take, the angles together made by it at h will 
equal 180° of the circle — that is, they will equal two right- 
angles. 

Now, if I take the fig. D again, and carry on the line 
a h right through c d, where it is dotted, two angles will be 
made on the other side of c d, which will each be right 
angles of 90° as before, so that all the four angles thus 
made are equal. It follows from this, that whenever any 
two lines cut each other — E Q and B, S for instance — the 
angles at T equal four right angles, no matter whether the 
lines are or are not perpendicular to each other: and what 
is more (and what I specially want you to note), the 



84 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

opposite angles are equal — i.e, the two small ones, or the 
two large ones. 

The action of a mitre-block or mitre-hox depends upon 
the principles here laid down, so you see that although few 
carpenters understand much about mathematics, and simply 
work as they were taught, without knowing or caring why, 
those who planned the method of work, and invented 
mitre-boards and such like devices to shorten work and 
lessen labour, must have understood a great deal about 
such things. And so it is generally, as you will find with 
inventions : things look easy enough, and natural enough, 
when we se^ them every day ; but it has taken a great deal 
of thought and sound knowledge to invent them in the 
first place, and a great deal of practical experience to con- 
struct them so neatly. Even a common pin goes through 
such a number of processes as would surprise you, if you 
have never been able to see them made. 

Look carefully at A. It represents a block of wood, 
about 1^ or 2 inches thick, and 3 or 4 wide, firmly screwed 
on the top of a board 1 inch thick. The length is about 
18 inches. Two saw-cuts are made with a tenon-saw, right 
through the block to the board, at angles of 45'* with the 
line a b. These are guides for the saw to work in. The 
wood to be cut is laid against the edge of the block, and 
rests on the board, and the saw is then applied in one of 
the grooves while the wood is being cut by it. Let II be 



MITRING BOARDS AND BOXES. 85 

such a piece. If tlie saw is put in the left-hand slit, it will 
cut it like y; if in the other, it will cut it the other way, 
like x; and thus, if a piece is taken off at each end, it will 
be as you see, ready to become one side of a frame. Now, 
examine K, which shows all the lines or edges of the 
mitring-board, as seen from above, with the strip a h sawn 
across in the line c a. The lines a h and c a cross each 
other, making the opposite angles equal ; and as one angle 
is 45° the other must be 45° also, so that the right-hand 
side of the strip is correctly cut. But so also is the other 
end, and if we turn it over, it will exactly fit, and the two 
will form two sides of a square. T cculd prove to you that 
the second strip contains angles exactly similar to the first, 
but you ought to be able now to detect the reason for your- 
self, and I do not want to teach you more mathematics at 
present, as I am afraid you are tired of these, and will 
want to go on with the real work of fitting and making. 
I have, however, said enough, I think, to make you compre- 
hend why the two saw-cuts must be at an angle of 45° with 
the edge of the top board. 

Perhaps you wish to make your own board, however, and 
would like to know an easy way to get the saw-cuts at the 
right angle ? I shall therefore show you how to do this, 
but you must be very exact in your workmanship. A B, 
Fig. 34, is the piece of thick board as seen from above, and 
close to it is a perspective view of the same which shows 



86 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

the thickness. Set off a distance, A E, equal to A C, and 
join C E. The dotted line shows you that C E is the 
diagonal of a square, and the angles at C and E are con 
sequently each 45°; but we do not want this line to end at 
C, it is too exactly at the corner for convenience. Measure, 
therefore, a distance, E h and C a, equal, and join a 3, 
which will be the place for the saw-cut ; and the other can 
be marked out in exactly the same way. a x, in the per- 
spective view, must be carefully marked by the help of the 
square. Take care to mark the line on the bottom board, 
where the edge of this upper thick piece will fall, and screw 
the two firmly together. If the edge and face of the thick 
piece are not truly square to each other, the mitres cut thus 
will not be correct ; but, if all is well made, they may be 
glued at once together, no paring of the chisel being neces- 
sary or desirable. 

The mitre-box. Fig. 33, B, is on precisely the same prin- 
ciple, but is chiefly used to cut narrow strips not over 2 
inches wide ; it should be neatly made of mahogany, half 
an inch thick. There is also generally made a saw-cut 
straight across, at right angles to the length of the box or 
board, which is convenient in sawing across such strips of 
wood, as it saves the necessity of marking lines against the 
edge of the square : of course, it is specially used where a 
large number of strips have to be cut square across. In all 
tliese you observe one saw-cut leaning to the right, the 



MITRING BOARDS AND BOXES. 



87 



other to the left. This is necessary when picture-frames 
or moulded pieces have to be cut to 45°, because you can- 
not, of course, turn such pieces over and use either side, 
which you can do when the piece has no such mouldings. 

Several modifications exist of mitring-boards ; some 
arranged for sawing, and some for planing; and where 
thousands of frames have to be cheaply made, the angles 
are cut off with circular saws, of which I need not speak 






Fig. 34. 

particularly here, but which I shall probably have to 
describe in a future page. In Fig. 34, K, I have shown 
one corner of a simple picture-frame, covered with what is 
called rustic work, that is — short pieces of oak, ash, or 
other wood cut from the tree, left with the bark on, or 



88 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

peeled and varnished. These are nailed on with small 
brads ; and, if well assorted and arranged, this will have a 
very neat appearance, suiting well for rooms fitted up in 
oak, as many studies and libraries are. In picture-frames, 
however, a rebate (called rabbit) has to be made at the 
back, like L, in which the picture with its glass and back- 
board has to rest ; and this requires a special plane. The 
front also is always either sloped off or moulded. I shall 
th.jrefore make this kind of work the subject of my next 
chapter, and describe the operations of rebating, grooving, 
tongueing, and moulding. 




Chapter VL 




HESE operations, wliicli are frequently required 
in carpentry, are done on a small scale by 
planes. On a larger scale, circular saws and 
other machinery are widely and extensively 
made use of for the same purpose, as being much more 
rapid and economical. Of course, the young mechanic will 
employ the more usual method, and the present chapter 
will therefore treat of the planes necessary for the above 
work, and the method of using them. 

The common rebate or rabbit plane comes first. This is 
of various widths ; an inch being a very useful size. It is 
different in many respects from the smooth ing-plant, being 
made with a single iron only, which is so arranged as to 
reach into angular recesses, which could not be touched by 
the ordinary plane, of which tlie iron does not extend quite 
to either side of the sole. Fig. 35, A and B, will illustrate 



90 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



this. A represents the plane as seen from above and at 
one side, B gives the perspective view of the sole, C repre- 
sents the iron, D the wedge. Let us suppose a rehate 
required upon a strip 1 inch thick, the same to be half an 








Fig. 35. 



inch wide and deep. A gauge is first set to the required 
distance, and a line is marked on both faces, as a guide for 
the action of the plane. After a little practice it will be 
found easy to guide the entry of the plane with the left 
hand, grasping it so as partly to overlap the sole, and thus 
determine the width of the cut, which must not at first be 
carried to the full width required, but may be brought 
within an eighth of an inch of such gauge line, and the 
material removed sometimes from one face of the rebate 
and sometimes from the other, taking care to keep it nicely 
square. 

At first it is an easier plan to nail on with brads a 



REBA TE- PLANES. 9 1 

strip of wood accurately planed, which in this case, as the 
sole of the plane is 1 inch wide, must cover it from end to 
end to a width of half an inch. This will prevent the pos 
Bibility of going too deep into cut, and insure the correct- 
ness of the rebate. Fig. 35 H. The injury to the sole will 
not be great if small brads are used, but at the same time 
it is better to learn the art of using the hand as a guide, 
which is the more general method of the working car- 
penter. As for the use of rebates, there are few pieces of 
cabinet-work or joinery in which they are not found, and 
as stated in the previous chapter, no picture-frame can be 
made without them. The shavings which escape from the 
rebate-frame do not rise out of the top, as in the smoothing- 
plane, but from the side, which is hollowed out for the pur- 
pose, as seen in the drawing. 

The skew rebate-plane is made like the preceding one, 
but the iron, instead of standing at right angles to the 
sides, is placed at an angle. With this you can plane 
across the grain of the wood. 

The next plane to be noticed, is that with which 
grooves are cut, such as you will often see in the sides 
of book-shelves, in which the several shelves slide. The 
same is done where two boards are to be joined length- 
wise, and there is danger of their becoming separated 
as the wood shrinks in drying. The panels of doors, 
too, are slid into similar grooves in the styles and 



92 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



rails of the frame-work, and there are innumerable other 
cases in which this mode of work is carried out. These 
grooves are generally cut with the plough, a curious-looking 
tool, by no means like a plane in appearance, but of great 
use to the carpenter. Of course, we require various widths 
of such grooves, according to the special purpose intended, 
and these are determined by various widths of the cutting 
irons, which, however, all fix into the same stock ; a dozen 
or more of such irons are sold with a single plane. 

In Fig. 36 is a set of drawings explanatory of the above 
tool. The central part, or stock, is that which corresponds 




Fig. 36. 



to the same in other planes, and it is only modified to suit 
the other parts, which simply act as guides or gauges regu- 



THE PLOUGH. 93 



lating the distance of the grooves from the edge of the 
board, and the depth to which they are to be cut. When 
the arms, A A, are removed, you have the plane as it appears 
with a brass fence, 3, at one side, which can be raised or 
lowered at pleasure, and set at any point by the screw C ; d 
is an iron plate which acts as the sole of the plane, the 
cutting edge being set to project a very little way below it. 
The arms A A carry the fence y, which is flat on the 
inside next the plane, and moulded (merely for appearance 
sake) on the outside. The arms slide in two holes in the 
body of the plane, and can be drawn out at pleasure, and 
fixed by little wooden wedges, e e. Thus, while in use, the 
fence rubs along the edge of the board, while the groove is 
being cut at such distance as the fence is fixed, and to such 
a depth as is allowed by the position of the brass check 
or guide. Complex, therefore, as this tool appears, it is 
not so in reality. "We shall presently describe a chest of 
drawers or cabinet calculated to receive small tools, or 
specimens of coins, shells, and such like, in which another 
kind of grooving-plane has to come into use, called (with 
its fellow, which makes a tenon to fit such groove) a match 
plane. This is of extensive use, less expensive than the 
plough, and on the whole more likely to be useful to the 
young mechanic. Indeed, although the plough has been 
here described and illustrated, it is not by any means to be 
considered essential, and its purchase may well be deferder 



94 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



until other tools of greater importance has been effected. 
The side or sash fillister to be presently described, for in- 
stance, would be more useful. 

Fig. 37 is such a cabinet, with six drawers, dovetailed at 
the corners as usual. The bottom, however, projects be- 
yond the sides, so that the latter are not made lower than 
the back, as was the case with the table-drawer previously 




Fig. 37. 



described. The top and sides may be of mahogany, the 
back and bottom of pine (stained or not at pleasure), or if 
cost is an object, the whole may be of any other wood ; but 
the grooves in which the drawers slide, can be cut more 



HOW TO MAKE A CABINET. 95 



sharply and neatly in harder wood than pine — birch, for 
instance, which is very fit for the purpose, and will take a 
good polish. The outer case is first made like an open 
box. The dimensions may be regulated according to the 
intended use, but generally the drawers increase in depth 
downwards. The top and bottom overlap the sides, the 
latter to a somewhat greater width than the former. The 
sides can therefore only be dovetailed to the back ; the 
bottom may be attached with screws, and the top likewise, 
but the holes must then be plugged to conceal them. If 
the whole is of deal, and to be painted or veneered, this 
would be the best plan ; but if the top is of mahogany, it 
is not so easy to fill up the holes above the heads of the 
screws so as to thoroughly conceal them. If, however, you 
have no plough to cut a groove to let the sides and back a 
little way into the top, glue alone will not hold sufiiciently. 
In this case smaller holes may be made to admit 2-inch 
brads to assist the glue, such holes being easily filled with 
putty stained to imitate mahogany. 

The peculiarity of the drawers consists in their meeting 
each other quite closely when shut, without the inter- 
mediate divisions ordinarily seen. Hence the necessity for 
a different arrangement of the sliding surfaces as before 
referred to. The insides of the case have Jive grooves 
ploughed across them, as seen at C of this figure, the 
sixth drawer only being made as usual to slide upon the 



96 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



bottom of the case^and having its sides made lower than 
the back for this purpose. 

In the grooves thus cut, the projecting part of the 
bottom of the drawers is made to fit and slide, and they 
will run more smoothly if cut so that the grain of the 
wood shall run across the bottom, from front to back, and 
not from side to side. The bottom of the drawer must noi 
come below the level of the front, but either the front 
should be rebated to take one edge of it, as seen at E, 
which is the best way, or a slip of wood should be glued 
along as at F, on which that edge may rest, and to which 
it can be attached. D exhibits this distinctly, as it is 
drawn as if the nearest end was removed to show the 
position of the other parts. The bottom, therefore, will be 
let into the front, and nailed under the back and sides, and 
will project rather less than half an inch each way, to fit 
the grooves in which it is to slide. Another way to effect 
the same is to make the drawers as usual, with no such 
projections, and to nail a strip to run in the grooves in 
the middle of the side pieces, or, if preferred, near the 
top. The effect is, of course, the same, and such strips 
being planed up nicely, with the grain running length- 
wise, will cause the drawers to work in and out very 
smoothly. 

There is no neater way than this to make a cabinet ; and 
sometimes the whole is closed with a panelled door, for 



THE SASH FILLISTER. 97 

which purpose the case is left to project beyond the 
drawers. Unless well supplied in the matter of planes, 
which is hardly to be expected, you will not be able to cut 
the grooves in the side of the outer case in any way but 
the following, which, however, will answer very well when, 
the piece in which they are to be cut is not above 9 inches- 
or 1 foot wide. Mark out the places, spacing them with 
the greatest care, and cut just within the lines with a tenon- 
Raw; then cut out with a chisel the narrow piece which 
intervenes. There is a plane called a routing-plane used 
for this by cabinetmakers and joiners, but you may as well 
exercise your ingenuity to do without it. If you have a 
plough, you may remove the fence, and let it follow up the 
saw and chisel, but it will be hardly required if you use the 
chisel carefully. 

I shall now introduce to your notice another very excel- 
lent plane, called a side or sash fillister, for cutting rebates 
of any required depth and width. It is very like the plough 
in appearance, with a similar wooden guide or fence on two 
arms to regulate the width, and another of metal, moved 
by a screw at the top, to regulate the depth of the cut. 
Fig. 38, A, shows one side of this plane, and B the other. 
The cutting edge comes down to the level of <? o? in fig. A ;. 
the fence, of which the edge is seen at ^, will draw up to the 
level of a b, or lower to that of the edge. This plane,, 
therefore, is but a more complete rebate-plane, fitted with 



98 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



gnides for depth and width. It does its work very per- 
fectly, and is of extensive use. 

I have given descriptions of these planes, although the 
young mechanic will not at first possess them, as they are 




Fig. 38. 

somewhat expensive, because I feel it as well to let him 
know how work is done by the trade, and why it is that 
such work is effected more rapidly and better than he him 
self can do it ; but at the same time it is far better that he 
should, for a long time, work at a disadvantage, by using 



THE MATCH-PLANE. 99 

few tools, and those of the simplest construction, before 
taking in hand others which cost a good deal of money, 
which might often be better spent. A look back over these 
pages will show that with a long (or jack) plane, a smooth- 
ing-plane and a rebate-plane, all the work previously 
alluded to can be done. As, however, I am writing upon 
the subject of planes, I may as well mention two more — 
match-planes and beading-planes — to which may be added 
those for moulding, being an extension only of the last 
named. Match-planes are always in pairs. Their use is 
to cut, the one a groove, Fig. 39, A, the other a tenon or 
tongue, or feather, as it is sometimes called, as Fig. 39, B, 
down the long sides (with the grain) of boards that are to 
be joined lengthwise (Fig. 39). If the plough is used, a 
groove is cut in both pieces, and a slip of board planed up 




Fig. 39. 

to fit them ; either method will answer equally well. 
When boards joined thus shrink, the tongue or slip fills up 
space. 

There is no necessity for illustrating the planes used for 



loo THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

beading and moulding after the description already given 
of others. The irons, instead of being fiat, are filed into 
grooves and hollows of the required pattern, and of course 
transfer their own form to the wood upon which they are 
used. They are held on the slope of the moulding to be 
cut. When blunt, they have to be sharpened with slips of 
oilstone, which can be had for the purpose, of square and 
round section; sometimes they are sufficiently soft to be 
filed into shape, but a keen edge cannot thus be obtained. 
Mouldings, however, are generally finished off with fine 
sandpaper. They are always planed lengthwise of the 
grain in long strips, and are cut to the required lengths 
(generally with mitres). When very broad, they are made 
np of several narrower ones, glued side by side. The 
young mechanic had better get them cut for him by some 
friendly carpenter, as it is hardly worth his while to 
buy planes for which he will have comparatively little 
use. 

I shall conclude these papers on carpentry by describing 
the method of making such a door as would suit the cabinet 
already described, especially as it will explain the way in 
which all panelling is done, whether for doors, shutters, or 
other similar articles. Panelling is indeed of very general 
application in every household, and it is well worth while 
even for the young mechanic to learn how it is accom- 
plished. It is absolutely necessary, however, that he 



PANELLING. 



lOl 



should be possessed either of a plough or match-planes for 
routing out the grooves in which the panels slide. 

Nearly all panels have a beading or a moulding running 
round them as a finish. 

Fig. 40 illustrates the method of panelling. A, B, C are 
the styles, D, E, F, G the rails. The mortices and tenons 




Fig. 40. 

are cut as usual. The inside edges of C, B, D, Gr are then 
grooved with the plough, and both edges of the other 
pieces. The panels are carefully squared up, and then 
bevelled off at the edges so as to fit the grooves. To put 
Buch a door together, A, D, G, E, and F would be first 



102 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

arranged, then the panels slid in from the outside, and 
afterwards the styles B and C put in place. The part 
beyond the outer mortices in the latter pieces, which are 
left for safety in cutting these mortices, and to prevent 
splitting when D and Gr are driven home, are not cut off 
until the glue is dry. The process is simple, but it requires 
great care, both in setting out the various measurements, 
and in squaring up the different pieces composing the 
whole. After the whole is dry, strips of moulding, cut to 
mitre-joints at the corners, are nailed on with brads round 
the panels to give the whole a finished appearance. 

In the above examples, in which I have gone from the 
more simple to the more complicated, are comprised the 
main principles of the art of carpentry. At any rate, when 
the young mechanic can do as much, he will be able to 
accomplish a great deal more. 




Chapter VII. 




HERE are a number of useful and ornamental 
articles wliicli cannot be made with the carpen- 
ter's tools alone, but which need a lathe for their 
construction. Wooden boxes of circular section, 
wooden and metal wheels and pulleys, ornamental chair and 
table legs, and a countless number of similar articles, all 
depend upon the skill of the turner. Models too of engines 
and machinery of all sizes and shapes, bring the lathe into 
constant requisition. 

No one can say to whom this machine is to be attributed. 
Probably it has been developed by slow and imperceptible 
steps, from the potter's wheel to its present elaborate and 
perfect form. As for the part that old D^dalus had in it, 
I believe he had just as much to do with it as he had with 
the saw, which he is said to have invented from seeing the 
backbone of a fish. Now, the backbone of a fish is not a 



IC4 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



bit like a saw, but tbe jaw of a shark is, and very quickly 
it amputates legs, arms, and heads, when unfortunately 
the chance is given to it. "We need not, however, stay to 
discuss this unimportant point ; we will leave it to the 
researches of the Antediluvian Society, or Noahican Breth- 
ren, or any other known or unknown learned body, and 
proceed to consider the lathe as it is now generally con- 
structed — the ambition of boys, the delight of adult 
possessors, and, to the writer, " gem of gems ! " 

At the very time 1 write, I am engaged in fitting up two 
lathes ; one of which is for just such a " young mechanic ' 
as this book is intended to instruct. The bed will be ol 
dry hard beech, the fly-wheel of iron turned up with five 
grooves or speeds, as they are called. The heads, which are 
the only really important part, are to be made by a well- 
known London maker, whose work is sure to be the best 
possible at the price afibrded. Nevertheless, this lathe will 
^ost several pounds, although it is to be fitted for hand- 
tm-ning only, and it is possible in London to find a much 
cheaper (not better) article. 

When I was myself a " young mechanic," so many years 
ago that I find I do not quite like to count them, I had a 
lathe at £2, rather shaky, wooden fly-wheel, wooden head — 
not at all the thing to recommend. Then I had another 
made by a gunsmith — all iron — for it was what is called 
a triangle-bar lathe ; the bed being a bar of triangular 



THE TURNING-LATHE. 105 

Bection, on which the heads or poppits slid, and also the 
rest. I think now it was not a bad lathe ; but I am afraid 
the work I did on it was scarcely first-class ; and I sold the 
machine one fine day under the impression that if I had a 
better I should do better work. This, however, proved a 
terrible fallacy ; so. I set myself upon high as a warning to 
young mechanics, who always fancy that their clumsy, bad 
work is due to some fault in their tools, whereas, after all, 
it is generally their own. 

Well, I had a succession of lathes, after that triangle-bar 
one had passed into oblivion, by various makers ; some 
good, some indifferent, some for heavy, and some for light 
work ; and I fancy I am now fairly able to give an opinion 
upon the merits or demerits of any particular lathe which 
may come under my notice. 

I was going to write a piece of advice, " Don't give too 
much for a lathe ^"^ when I remembered that I was scrib- 
bling for the edification first of boys ; and experience tells me 
the caution is by no means generally necessary, few boys' 
pockets beingvery heavily lined, owing to the constant claims 
upon them for peg-tops, knives, string, and etceteras — not 
to say lollipops and bulls' eyes, and similar unwholesome 
luxuries. 

I suppose, however, I must give some idea of cost, if 
only as a partial guide ; but all depends upon the special 
object for which the lathe is to be used. If for models, for 



io6 7 HE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

instance, it would not "be so expensive as if it was desired 
for elaborate ornamental work in wood or ivory, when the 
young mechanic has grown whiskers, and become an adult 
enthusiast at this delightful recreation. For there are all 
kinds of lathes to be had ; some that will answer well for 
beginners, and for rough work in after years ; some beauti- 
fully finished, intended to be used first for simple hand- 
turning, but which are of best construction, and therefore 
worth adding to from time to time ; and if carefully used, 
will descend in good order from father to son. Then there 
are lathes for heavier work, and for screw cutting and 
engine making, fit for engineers ; and others of minute 
size and exquisite finish, adapted to the special require- 
ments of watch and clock makers — lathes you could put 
in your waistcoat pocket. 

Now, if I were sure you would be very, very careful, I 
should like to recommend a good lathe, worth adding to as 
you grew more and more experienced ; but these, even of 
simplest make, are costly, and not within reach of half my 
readers. I shall therefore say — get a good, plain, strong 
tool that will bear a little rough usage, and which will cost 
you as little as it is possible to make them for : and if you 
find, after a year or two, that you are becoming a proficient, 
and therefore not so likely to damage a good lathe, you can 
set this, your first, on one side, and let it become your hack 
to do any odd jobs, and buy yourself both a larger and a 



THE TURNING-LATHE. 107 

better one. I know this will be a double outlay ; but ex- 
perience tells me it will be the best way and the cheapest 
in the long run. Perhaps you may like to go on as you 
are. Your small lathe may prove an accurate one, and 
quite sufficient for your need. In such case, of course, a 
new one will not be required at all. But if it should be 
otherwise, and circumstances allow you to improve upon 
it, you may rest assured your old friend will be ever a 
handy assistant, and save your better lathe very consider- 
ably in many ways. 

You can get a lathe for about $20 to $25, with iron 
bed complete ; and I really think it impossible to obtain a 
cheaper one. Of course it will be small, and of the plainest 
possible construction. It will, nevertheless, answer for 
light work in wood and metal, being designed to assist the 
young mechanic in making model engines and similar 
curiosities. From this you may go, pound by pound, to 
good, serviceable tools ; and these to a £300 lathe for rose 
engine-work, and elaborate ornamentation in ivory and 
other costly materials. Most probably I shall be able to 
give you a catalogue or two at the end of this book, pub- 
lished by makers of such lathes, and you can then judge of 
the probable cost of your workshop. The drawing of the 
lathe (Fig. 41) will be readily understood even by those 
boys who have had no opportunity of seeing any work of 
this kind. There are, however, few towns or villages iu 



io8 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



which a lathe does not exist, and may not be examined by 
any boy who desires to learn its construction and use. Its 

p 




Fig. 41. 



object is to give rotary movement to any material it is 
desired to form into a circular or cylindrical shape. 

Motion being given to the fly-wheel by means of the 



THE TURNING-LATHE. 109 

treadle and crank, is communicated to the pullej^ upon 
the mandrel. Upon the screw of this mandrel, B, the work 
is fixed ; being usually held in a chuck suited to its par- 
ticular form, but sometimes it is screwed directly upon the 
mandrel. The rest, C, is then fixed near it, and the tool is 
fiupported thereon and held firmly while the work revolves 
against it. All this is easy to understand — it is not so easy 
to carry it into practice. Attention to the following direc- 
tions will enable the young mechanic to become a good 
turner in course of time ; but the art cannot be practically 
learned in a day, and it needs experience and considerable 
practice to become anything like a proficient. 

If the construction of the lathe itself is understood, the 
first consideration is what tools and chucks are necessary. 
I shall speak of the latter first, as little or nothing can be 
done without them. First comes the prong-chuck, for soft 
wood (Fig. 41, A). This, lilve all others, is made to screw 
upon the mandrel. Its use is to hold one end of any piece 
of wood while the other is supported by the point, E, of the 
poppit, E, which poppit can be moved at pleasure along 
the lathe-bed, and fixed at any given place by a hand-nut 
below. The point itself can be advanced or drawn back by 
turning the handle, K. A piece of wood thus mounted 
must of necessity revolve with the mandrel, because, 
although it can and will turn round upon the point of the 
back poppit, it cannot do so upon the fork or prong, which 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



enters and holds it securely. This chuck, or one of the 
same nature, is always used for cylinders of soft wood, 
which can be supported at both ends, such as tool-handles, 
chair-legs, and other work not requiring to be hollowed 
out. 

It sometimes happens, however, especially if the work is 
at all rough, or considerably out of truth, that the piece 
slips round upon the fork or prong, especially if it does 
not enter deeply enough; and in addition, tool-handles and 
round rulers, and many articles that have to be similarly 
supported at both ends, are made of hard wood, into which 
this prong will not readily enter. 

In such cases, and indeed as a general substitute for the 
first, a chuck called a " cross-chuck " is to be used (Fig. 
41, L, M). The centre of the little cross (which is of steel, 
and fits into the same square or round hole in the socket 
which carries the prong, and which is also used to hold 
drills, pieces of iron rod which are to be turned, and other 
articles) is made to revolve in the precise axial line of the 
mandrel, or to run true with it, as it is called. The arms 
of the cross are to be imbedded in the work, which is best 
effected by making in the latter two saw-cuts at right 
angles with each other (Fig. 41, N), which represents a 
piece ready for mounting. 

The next chuck is equally necessary (Fig. 41, 0). It 
is a taper screw of steel, fixed in a socket which can be 



THE TURNING-LATHE. iii 

attached to the mandrel. Two sizes of this chuck would be 
useful for a large lathe, but for such a one as will probably 
be purchased by the young amateur, one only, with a screw 
of medium size, will suffice. The use of this chuck is to 
hold pieces which only require to be supported at one end, 
so that a tool can be used to work upon the other, either to 
mould it into the required form, or to hollow it out for a 
box or bowl. Of course you might screw such work on the 
mandrel-nose itself, but it would make a very large hole in 
the end, whereas this taper screw only requires a moder- 
ately sized gimlet-hole. It is therefore a much more con- 
venient way of attaching work to the mandrel, and is of 
extensive use. 

The cup-chuck is the last required. It is sketched at P, 
and is sometimes of iron, but generally of brass. There 
are several sizes made and sold with lathes, but you need 
not have at most more than one or two, as I shall show you 
how to make wooden ones, which answer as well, if not 
better. The flat plates, R, R*, can scarcely be called 
chucks, but they generally come into the list of such. The 
latter has five projecting points, which, sticking into such 
a thing as a flat-board (like a bread-platter, or round 
pulley), hold it sufficiently firm when the back centre is 
brought up against the other side of the piece, to allow of 
its being turned. The other is merely a flat plate with 
holes in it, through which screws can be passed from 



rt2 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

behind into any odd bit of wood of 2 or 3 inches in thick- 
ness, whereby a chuck can be quickly made to suit any 
required purpose. Two or three of these would be con- 
venient, one of which should be nearly as large as the lathe 
will carry ; and in this one a great many holes and slots 
should be made. This is called a face-plate, and, in addi- 
tion to the ordinary screws, whereby pieces of wood are 
attached to it, it is fitted with clamps and bolts of various 
forms, for the purpose of holding securely upon its face all 
kinds of flat works in wood or metal, — such as cog-wheels, 
which have to be bored out and faced. The young model- 
maker will find a face-plate of great service. The larger 
one should be of iron, as it will be cheaper than brass. 

We now pass on to chucks for metal turning. These are 
of various shapes. First in order comes the centre chuck 
and dog, for holding rods of iron which can be sup- 
ported at both ends. The commonest form is represented 
in Fig. 41, S, T. S is such a face-plate almost as I have 
described, but it has a pin projecting from it, and also a 
steel centre-point. The latter is often made to screw out 
and in, which is the best plan. The pin can be slid to any 
point in the face-plate, and clamped by a nut at the back. 
T is called a dog, and of these two at least will be re- 
quired, if the young mechanic intends to work in metal. 

The way of using these is shown at T^. The rod of iron 
has a hole drilled at each end, as nearly in the centre as 



THE TURNING-LATHE. 113 

possible. It is first indented with a piincli, then a drill is 
put into the drill chuck, and one end of the rod brought 
against it as it revolves, while the back poppit centre-point 
is screwed against the indentation at the other end. A 
little oil is applied to the drill to assist its working, and the 
rod itself is prevented from turning round either by grasp- 
ing it with the hand or screwing a hand-vice upon it, so 
that ' this comes against the bed or the rest ; or it can be 
held in the hand, which has one advantage, namely, that 
the oj)erator can feel exactly what is the resistance caused 
by the drill, and can regulate the pressure accordingly. The 
screw of the poppit is, of course, to be very slowly and 
steadily advanced during the process. All drilling in the 
lathe is done in this way, but in boring out long holes, the 
action is often reversed, the work being kept in motion 
while the tool is advanced, without being allowed to revolve. 
You need not bore more than one-eighth of an inch for 
light work, but must do the same at each end of the rod. 
The holes thus made should be of such a size as not to let 
the extreme end of the back centre-point touch the bottom, 
or it will soon be worn down and blunted ; — remember this 
in all future work. 

Supposing the rod to be thus bored at each end, place 
the centre-chuck upon the mandrel, instead of the drill- 
chuck, and mount the bar between this and the point of the 
back-centre. Thus placed, it will be accurately supported ; 

H 



114 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

but if the lathe is put in motion, it will not tiirn round, 
Now come into use the little dogs. Remove the bar, 
and choosing a dog of which the open part is tolerably 
near the size of it, slip it over the end about half an inch, 
and there fix it by tightening the little screw, which, you 
observe, will drive the bar as far as possible towards the 
smaller part of the opening, and when it can go no farther, 
will secure it as in a vice. It is a good plan to file a slight 
flat upon the bar, just where the screw of the carrier will 
come. Now replace the bar, and when the lathe is put in 
motion, the tail of the carrier should come against the 
projecting pin in the face of the face-plate, which will 
compel the iron to go round with it. This is the way all 
bars of metal are mounted. I shall not tell you yet how 
they are to be turned, because this would interfere with 
the order of my description. 

To mount in the lathe such pieces as cylinders of engines, 
which require to be bored, or any other objects which have 
to be turned on one or both faces, the young mechanic 
must make wooden chucks, and bore them out exactly to 
fit the article and hold it securely. There are metal chucks 
expressly made to take all work of this kind, and which 
are so contrived that they will also hold it truly central ; 
but they are costly, and need not be obtained with the first 
lathe — at any rate, not until absolutely required^ and that 
will be, I know, a long time hence ; ay, a very long time 



TURNING TOOLS. 115 

for many good workmen have never even seen, mucli less 
possessed one of tliem. Perhaps I may draw and explain 
one in a future page, as well as some other chucks, which 
it is not necessary to notice here. 

The chucks then absolutely necessary are these — 

1. Square Hole Chdck, which will take the prong, the cross, the drills, and 

short bits of iron to be turned. 

2. The Taper Screw. 

3. Flange or Face Chucks, one with five points, and two with holes for 

screws, also one larger for a face-plate. 

4. Two or three Cup-chucks (I can, however, scarcely call these absolutely 

necessary). 
5 Chuck for Irok, viz., face-plate with centre-point, and two dogs to 
take iron from 1 inch diameter down to quarter-inch. These should 
have pear-shaped openings, not round ; any blacksmith can make them, 
but somehow they do such work generally in a clumsy fashion ; and 
they cost but 35 to 75 cents, according to size, beautifully made with 
turned screws. 

Now as to tools. Their name is legion — tools for iron, 
brass, ivory, hard and soft wood ; and many an odd shilling 
Will be well laid out from time to time in adding to the 
stock. Happily those most needed are not costly — about 
$3 a dozen without handles, which latter may be had at 
10 cents each and upwards, according to the material and 
finish, all with iron or brass ferules, so necessary to pre- 
vent splitting. You may buy your first few simple tools 
handled, but after you have these you can turn as many 
handles as you like, and you can buy ferules of all sizes at 
any regular tool-shop. 



Ji6 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

I may as well tell you that in a great many countrj 
towns you will be unable to obtain turning tools except 
gouges and chisels, so that when you buy your lathe in 
London, as you will find the best plan (or in Manchester, 
Birmingham, or other manufacturing town, if nearer to 
you), you must lay in a little stock of tools at the same 
time, and take future opportunities of getting more. In 
regular tool-shops you will have them laid before you by 
dozens of every conceivable shape and size, so that your 
great difficulty would be what to pick out if it were not for 
some such directions as I am now about to give you. 

First, you will want gouges and chisels. Begin with two 
sizes of each — one of half an inch, the other of 1 inch in 
width. These are to be mounted in long handles. 

Now, with these alone you can do all the plain work in 
soft wood which does not require to be hollowed out, tool- 
handles, chair-legs, legs of towel-horses, round rulers, and 
all sorts of things, and to a certain extent you can turn out 
the insides of wooden chucks, bowls, and boxes, but not 
very easily with these alone. Hence you must add some 
of those shown in Fig. 42. These I shall endeavour to 
assort as follows : — 

A to F are for hollowing out hard woods ; G and H are 
hook-tools (very difficult to use) for hollowing out soft 
wood boxes and bowls. 

I and K show the edge an*^ side of a parting tool for 



TURNING TOOLS. 



"7 




ii8 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

cutting off the ends of cylindrical pieces, separating the 
turned from the unturned parts, and for all similar work. 
[A tenon-saw held still against a piece revolving in the 
lathe will often serve to cut it in two, hut parting tools 
must also be had, and two are better than one, as a thick 
one should be kept for common woods, and a thin one 
for ivory and precious materials ; sometimes one with a 
notched edge is used for cutting off soft wood.] 

L to are for turning iron and steel. The first is a 
graver^ of which all sizes are made ; one of a quarter inch 
width on either face is large enough. It is a square bar of 
steel s^round off cornerwise so as to form a lozenge-shaped 
face. This is an essential tool for iron, and will do all 
sorts of work. 

M is a hook or heel tool, made sometimes with a flat 
edge and sometimes with a rounded one, the latter being 
most useful. It is a very powerful tool, much used by 
some, especially for heavy work — I don't think you need 
get one at present. If I am able to teach you to use a 
graver it will do almost as much work, and is a neater tool. 
If you use a tool of the nature of heel-tools at all, I think, 
on the whole, the nail-head tool, N, either round or square, is 
the best. It is at all events handy for roughing down work, 
and when it is reduced nearly to the size required, and is 
partly smoothed, the graver will finish it. 

is an inside tool for hollowinir out iron. There are 



TURNING TOOLS. iiq 

different shapes of this used, each turner giving the prefer- 
ence to some particular pattern to which he has habituated 
himself. None of these tools for metal have sharp edges — 
at least they would not appear so to an ordinary observer. 
The angle of the edge is 60° to 80°, or even 90°, which is, as 
you know, a right angle, and is that most generally used 
for the cutting edges of tools intended for brass, as U, V, 
W, of which V is a most useful pattern. Those for hard 
wood have edges a little more keen, but after all they 
scrape rather than cut ; the only tools for wood with keen 
edges being the gouge and chisel. 

P are callipers for measuring the outside of work of all 
kinds. Q and R are the same, arranged for in and outside 
work. The first is an ordinary pair closed until the ends 
have crossed, which they will all do ; but if the inside of 
hollow work to be gauged is small, they will not enter it. 
In this case none are so generally useful as the in-and-out 
callipers, R, for when accurately made (and if not you can 
easily correct them with a small file), the one end will 
measure the external diameter of work, and at the same 
time the other end will be found to have its points separated 
to such a distance, that if you were to turn a box or chuck 
to this inside measure, the cylinder first turned will exactly 
fit it. Thus if you turn a box-cover, and take the size of 
it with the straight end of the callipers, and then turn 
down the rim of the box until it is just the size indicated 



I20 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

by tlie curved ends, the one will exactly fit the other. In 
turning a piston to fit the cylinder of an engine, you would 
work with this useful tool. 

S is the turner's square. The blade slides stiffly and accu- 
rately in a slot in the brass, being kept by a spring at one side 
from working loose. This square is used to gauge the depth 
of boxes and other works which are to be turned to an exact 
size, and it also serves to test the squareness of many kinds 
of work. Suppose, for instance, you had turned a box, you 
would put the blade of this tool against the bottom and 
press upon it till the brass rested across the rim, touching 
it in two opposite places. Now possibly the inside may be 
smaller at the bottom than at the top. Test it by bringing 
the steel blade edgewise against it. You will see whether 
the brass still touches in two places across the mouth of 
the box. The squareness of the outside with the top or 
bottom can be tested in a similar way. We shall have 
occasion to recur to this when we come to boring and fit- 
ting engine cylinders. 

S^ is another small square, which is often serviceable 
where the carpenter's square cannot be used. If you intend 
to make models, you will want both of these ; at the same 
time, it is quite possible to make the latter of iron, or even 
thick tin, if you have the former, as an accurate guide to 
work by. 
T represents a pair of spring-compasses or callipers. 



TURNING TOOLS. 



They are used to set off distances, and have the advantage 
of not being liable to shift their position when once they 
are set to any required width. You will require a pair of 
compasses of some sort, and if not already provided, these 
are the best you can have. 

There are many other tools, which, though not absolutely 
turning tools, are more or less used in connection with the 
lathe, but these need not now be further alluded to, and I 
shall g'y on to describe as clearly as possible the method of 
working at the lathe with hand-tools, commencing with the 
operation of turning soft wood with the gouge and chisel ; 
but I must first give a short chapter upon the nature of 
woods used. 




Ch 



AFTER 



VIII. 




^S different materials requii'e somewhat different 
management, and even in the matter of wood 
alone this rule holds good, it may be as well 
to have some idea of what is meant by hard 
and soft wood. 

The young mechanic has most likely hitherto considered 
all wood under one head ; but there is a vast difference, 
nevertheless, in the internal structure, even of such kinds 
as grow in England; and the woods of foreign countries 
differ again from these, some being of such close texture 
that it is almost impossible to work them with ordinary 
tools, and some (such as the palm) being little else than 
gigantic ferns, and in structure like that much-dreaded 
implement of flagellation — the schoolmaster's cane. 

In England the hardest wood found is that of the box- 
tree, the chief place of which is in Surrey, at Box Hill ; it 



MATERIALS FOR TURNING. 123 

isj nevertheless, found scattered here and there in all parts 
of the country, but not generally of a size greater than 3 
inches in diameter. It is of very slow growth, and our own 
country would not nearly satisfy the demand made for it 
by various trades. Hence a large quantity of box, of larger 
growth, and generally of harder and better quality, is im- 
ported every year from Turkey, to be used in the construc- 
tion of blocks for engravers, who alone require many 
tons weight annually, and for carpenters' rules, mallets, 
turned boxes, and tool-handles ; to which I may add the 
important item of peg-tops, I fear some of my readers 
may think I should have placed these first on the list ! 
O^iinions, however, I imagine, differ in this particular, as 
in most others, and upon all subjects. 

The grain of boxwood is so close and even that it is one 
of the most valuable turning materials we possess. It 
takes excellent screw-threads, provided they are not too 
fine ; is a very general material for boxes of all kinds, and 
also for chucks, although there is really no reason why it 
should be wasted in so applying it, when other woods of 
less value make such efficient substitutes. Probably its 
use for this purpose arose from the facility with which a 
screw can be cut in it to fit that on the mandrel, and that 
it is so hard as not to allow the collar beyond the screw to 
make much impression upon it. In consequence, when it 
is well fitted, such a chuck can be screwed on many times 



124 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



exactly to the same point, and will continue to run true. 
But I myself liave found that if the mandrel-screw is not 
very coarse, the threads cut in the inside of the chuck are 
apt to break off. 

Somewhat similar in texture, though by no means 
generally used, is the wood of the Elder, which is quite 
different, be it observed, from the Alder, although I often 
hear the names confounded together. The wood I allude 
to is that of the tree which bears umbels of sweet, white 
blossoms, which give place to those jet-black berries we 
find upon them late in summer, and which are made into 
elder-wine, for home consumption at Christmas, when, no 
doubt, most of my readers have di-unk it, hot and spicy and 
sugary, to keep out the wintry cold. From the same tree 
are commonly made those harmless engines of mimic war- 
fare — pop-guns ! 

If it were not for the presence of the pith, which is in 
fact the very quality which makes it valuable to boys for the 
latter purpose, this wood would certainly have been eagerly 
seized upon by tm-ners. Even with this defect, it is used 
instead of box for the inferior kinds of carpenter's rules 
and other purposes, and the larger pieces will make very 
good chucks, if a little care is exercised to prevent splitting 
them. It is indeed a wood that might be far more exten- 
sively used in this way than it is. 

The Yew, perhaps, should come next in order, for this toe 



MATERIALS FOR TURNING. 125 

is very close-grained and very beantiful, and when liiglily 
polished it will bear comparison with many foreign woods 
which we import at a high price ; it is, however, brittle and 
apt to splinter. 

Walnut varies considerably in quality, some being 
harder and richer in grain than others. This wood, how- 
ever, is not to be classed among those which are properly 
speaking hard^ as it can be cut with ease, and can only be 
planed and worked as deal would be, viz., rcith the grain; 
whereas the hard woods work with almost equal facility in 
either direction. This indeed in a great measure consti- 
■^utes the diiFerence between soft and hard woods, in the 
turner's sense of the words. If you were to hold a chisel 
flat on the rest, so as to let it scrape a cylinder of wood as 
it revolved in the lathe, you would find in some cases that 
it would tear out the fibres in shreds — these are soft woods. 
In other cases it would leave the surface rough but other- 
wise tolerably even, and with some it would leave the same 
fairly turned. 

I cannot call to mind any English wood but box that 
can be turned by a chisel held so as to scrape it, but the 
greater number of foreign woods are always turned in this 
manner, being hard and close in the grain. 

Birch. — Oh, once-dreaded tree ! birch ! with its long, 
swaying, switchy boughs, drooping as in sorrow at the 
mean uses to which it was applied! It is nevertheless a very 



126 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

useful tree, and the young meclianic can take fall revenge 
upon it by cutting, and chipping, and turning it into all 
sorts of useful articles. It is, however, now more generally 
used in cabinetmaking, for wardrobes, bedsteads, chests of 
drawers, and such like, as it looks very neat when planed 
and varnished. Perhaps, as a wood for the exercise of the 
turner's art, it must give place to 

Beech, which is a common and excellent material fur 
the essays of beginners, who can turn tool handles espe- 
cially from the small trimmed billets of it which are kept 
by the chairmakers, and which can generally be bought for 
a trifling sum in any town, and in many villages. If not, 
the wheelwright may be applied to for a supply, as he uses 
it rather extensively for the felloes of his wheels. It is 
peculiarly liable to the attacks of the little worm, weevil or 
maggot, who drills such innumerable and such beautifully 
round holes in furniture that stands long unused. 

Beech is often used for the screws of carpenters' benches, 
as it takes very well a thread of such size as is required for 
that purpose. It will also, for the same reason, answer 
very well for chucks, for which it has the recommendation 
of cheapness and toughness. 

Ash seems to come next upon the list. It is probably 
the most useful of all English woods, and where toughness, 
pliability, with moderate hardness, are valuable qualities, 
no English wood can exceed it. For frames of carts and 



MATERIALS FOR TURNING. 127 

carriages, shafts, agricultural implements, wheelbarrows, 
and smaller articles of husbandry, it is precisely what is 
needed, and in the workshop of the turner it is equally 
valuable. Tool-handles of ash are very durable, and hold 
the tool with great firmness, owing to the natural elasticity 
of the material. It may be stained and polished, and is 
then, for real mork^ preferable to the more costly hard 
woods of which handles are very generally made for the 
workshops of rich amateur mechanics. 

Oak is little used for turning, the grain being too coarse. 
The young mechanic need never make use of it for this 
purpose, and the same may be said of the elm. 

Elm is, nevertheless, used by turners for the wooden 
buckets of pumps, and is a generally useful wood. Bulk 
for bulk, it is lighter than beech, and it makes a good 
material, it is said, for lathe beds, though beech is more 
frequently used. It will answer for chucks, as indeed 
most woods will that can be cut into screws ; it is very 
tough. 

EvEKGREEN Oak, or HoLM Oak, as it is called, is very 
different to the forest tree, and might be classed among 
shrubs. When dry, it is by no means a bad wood to turn, 
and will take a good screw thread, and make excellent 
chucks. 

Acacia is an excellent wood. It is of a yellowish brown 
colour, tolerably ha^'d; and will take a good polish. It ia 



128 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

most certainly to be set down among the woods valuable to 
the turner. 

Sycamore is white, very soft until old, when it becomes 
much harder. This is also a turner's wood, and used ex- 
tensively for wooden bowls, backs of brushes, turned boxes, 
and what is generally called "turnery." A little of this 
will be useful to the young mechanic. It will make excel- 
lent bread platters, stands for hot water jugs, and such 
like. 

Holly. — The Christmas garland, with its red berries 
decorating even the poorest homes in midwinter, is a tree 
well worth the attention of the young mechanic. It is his 
substitute for the more precious material ivory, and from 
it he will turn the white draught or chess men, boxes, and 
many small articles. But it is necessary that this material 
should be perfectly dry, and to get it in perfection, care- 
fully preserved to insure its whiteness, it will be generally 
necessary to procure it ready for the lathe at some lathe- 
maker's, or at first-class cabinetmakers'. If cut green, it 
requires long seasoning, during which it shrinks consider- 
ably. In fact, it takes some years entirely to rid it of the 
great quantity of moisture which it contains. It is well 
worth procuring, nevertheless, for it is nearly as white and 
free from grain as ivory. 

Many of the fruit-trees of our orchards and gardens 
supply good material to the turner. Apple. Peak, 



MATERIALS FOR TURNING. 129 

Cherry, Plum, and some others, are all more or less 
useful. The grain of the first is rather dark, the fibres 
often twisted. It looks well when polished. 

Pear has a very fine, even grain, and is largely used 
for making the curved templates (or patterns of curves for 
architects and engineers) ; it will make good boxes, and is 
fairly serviceable to the turner. Its colour is light brown, 
but darkens by exposure. 

The Plum has a wood veined very like that of the elm, 
but is a finer and better wood for the lathe. This is the 
wild plum, and not the grafted fruit-tree of our gardens, 
which is not nearly so good. The wild plum is excellent 
for small boxes, and looks well when nicely turned and 
polished. 

Cherry is a very excellent wood, and naughty, fast boys,, 
who take to smoking, like young Americans, when they 
ought to be filling their young brains with knowledge 
instead of narcotics, know very well that it is made into 
pipes and stems of pipes. Happily this is not its only 
use, for it is fit for many other purposes ; and for light, 
elegant furniture, it is scarcely to be equalled. Dipped in 
lime-water, it darkens, and by doing this here and there, a. 
beautiful mottled appearance is given to it. It takes an 
excellent polish, and should be among the stores of the 
young mechanic. 

We now come to another soft, white wood. The Limb, 



t30 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



wliich, as it is more even in grain, more easily cut in 
any direction than most woods, is greatly used by carvera 
and pattern-makers {i.e.^ those who make wooden patterns 
of wheels, or lathes, or machinery, which are to be cast in 
metal). [The pattern is pressed into damp sand, and then, 
removed, and the melted metal is then poured into the im- 
pression thus made. If the sand is too wet, the process 
will not only fail, but the hot metal will be scattered on all 
sides, inflicting dreadful burns and injuries ; but with care, 
the young amateur may make castings in tin or lead, as will 
be explained by and by.] Even with a penknife alone, 
very pretty ornaments may be carved from the wood of the 
lime, and also f i om that which follows. 

Willow. — This is even softer than the last, and will 
plane into long, thin shavings, which are made into hats. 
(Once on a time I should have said " and bonnets^'' but in 
these days no one would recognise such articles. They are 
fast fading out of existence ; but I think quite as much 
sound sense used to be found under them as is now found 
under the very inefficient substitutes worn by ladies of the 
present day.) This wood will, of course, turn very easily, 
but requires very keen tools. In fact, shofrp gouges and 
chisels are invariably necessary for soft wood turning. 
Get some dry willow by all means, if you can. 

The last wood of English growth which the young 
mechanic is likely to meet with is the thorn. This grows 



MATERIALS FOR TURNING. 131 

to a tolerably large size, and is hard, close-grained, white, 
and altogether a good and serviceable wood. It will 
make capital chucks, taking a clean screw-thread, is easily 
procured, and is therefore strongly recommended to the 
notice of the young mechanic. The woods above named, 
except box, are all to be considered soft woods, and will 
work with gouge and chisel; but box, thorn, elder, and one 
or two of the more close-grained, will turn pretty well, and 
can be smoothly hollowed out, with hard wood tools held 
horizontally upon the rest. 

HARD WOODS. 

All those woods, properly called hard, including the best 
box, are of foreign growth, mostly coming from the Tropics. 
I do not know why they should be so much harder than 
those of temperate climes, but so it is. There are, however, 
woods in New Zealand, of which the temperature is similar 
to that of our own country, which are also exceedingly hard 
and difficult to work. A very large number of foreign 
woods are yearly brought to England in logs or billets or 
planks, some of very large size, and all of great weight. 
They are mostly liable to one defect, viz., rottenness of the 
core or heart, which limits the size of the pieces which can 
be cut from them. They can all be procured from the 
London lathe and tool shops, and there are also dealers in 
these woods (Jacques of Covent Garden, Mundy & Berrie 



r32 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

v)f Bunhill Row, and some others). It is almost impossible 
to procm-e them in the country, but rosewood, ebony, king- 
wood, &c., maybe sometimes had in such small pieces aa 
the young mechanic may require, at the cabinetmakers*. 
Among the most useful are — • 

Ebony, of which there are two or three kinds, some 
harder and more close-grained and blacker than others, 
and one which is called green ebony, which is like lignum- 
vitae (an English wood, but which grows to a larger size 
abroad ; indeed, many so called English woods are not 
really so, but have been brought from other countries to be 
grown here). The general colour is green, but the veins 
are rather darker. Bowls and skittle-balls are made ol 
it. It is not, however, of the same general use as the 
black ebony, which is very largely used both for cabinet- 
work and turning. 

Black Ebony is very close and hard, and, of course, pro- 
portionately heavy. It splits readily, but when chopped, 
the chips come off more like charcoal, showing no con- 
sistency. This is the kind imported from the Indies, and 
especially from Madagascar and Mauritius, and is the best 
for all kinds of turned work. Portugal affords another 
kind, which bears the same name, but is more brown than 
black, and softer, less compact in grain, and generally 
of less value. Ebony will bear eccentric work, and all 
kinds of beautiful carving: and ornamentation in the lathe. 



MATERIALS FOR TURNING. 133 

EosE-wooD is very commonly used for furniture and 
turned work. It is a rich red wood, grained with black. It 
is not very hard, less so than ebony, and has more evident 
grain or fibre. It turns well, and some pieces are very 
handsome. 

African Black-wood is in appearance similar to ebony, 
but it is even more close and compact, and is the most valu- 
able of all to the ornamental turner. When this or ebony is 
set off by being inlaid with ivory, or even holly, it is very 
lovely in its intense and brilliant blackness. Either this 
or ebony is used for black pieces for the chessboard or 
draughtboard, though stained boxwood, being less costly, 
is sometimes made to take its place. 

African Cam-wood is a very beautiful material when 
first cut. Its rich red tint is diversified with the most 
brilliant yellow streaks. Unfortunately, however, these 
are not lasting. Exposed to the air, they gradually become 
darker, until they become red like the rest of the wood. 
This material, however, has a fine, close grain, is a genuine 
hard wood, and of general use to the turner for ornamental 
articles of various kinds. 

Tulip-wood is not very hard. Cut across the log, the 
appearance is fine, owing to the rings of growth being* 
wavy and u-regular, in dark and light red alternations, that 
reminds one of the flower after which it is called. This 
tree, indeed, which grows to a large size, bears flowers 



134 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

similar to those of our gardens imported from Holland, 
which grow upon short perpendicular stems. The centre or 
core of tulip-wood is generally rotten. It sucks up a good 
deal of polish before the grain shows out brightly and 
strongly, from being less hard and more fibrous than many 
others named above. 

Parthidge-wood is a nice, hard, and very pretty wood, 
rather dark or gray. The fibres seem to run both ways, 
giving a mottled appearance when turned. 

Coral-wood is bright red, hard, and close in grain, well 
suited for red chessmen, where that colour is preferred to 
black. It looks very handsome in the midst of other 
coloured specimens; otherwise, like all material of one 
tint and free from veined lines, there is too much uniformity 
of appearance to make it pleasing to the eye of one who is 
gifted with appreciation of colour. 

It is not necessary for me to go in order through a long 
list of foreign woods. The very young mechanic, unless 
living in London, will seldom meet with many of them ; 
and a very good selection for the advanced turner will be 
composed of the following : — 
.Black Ebony. 

Cocoa or Cocus, which is not the cocoa-nut tree, this 
being a palm, the wood of which is stringy like a fern or a 
cane ; whereas, cocoa or cocus is firm, hard, and excellent. 

BLACK-wooDjWhich cuts finely with tools for eccentric work. 



MATERIALS FOR TURNING. 135 



King-wood, a good and useful wood, something akin in 
appearance to rosewood. 

Satin-wood, pale yellow grain, like watered silk, turns 
very well, but is by no means bard ; there is also a red 
satinwood. 

EosE-wooD, already described ; it loses colour after 
exposure, and is most beautiful newly cut. 

If the above are added to the most useful of the English 
woods described above, it will scarcely be worth while to 
add to them except as specimens. It is, however, very 
interesting to collect and arrange these, and it is an em- 
ployment well worthy of the attention of the young 
mechanic. Thin slices cut across the grain, and some- 
times, or in addition, slices cut with the grain, should be 
arranged in order after being trimmed to shape (round, 
square, or triangular, or even six-sided). They should be 
very carefully polished to bring up the grain, and labelled 
with the common and Latin (or botanical) name. The 
country from which procured, with short notes relative to 
the size and general growth of the tree, should be added. 
This will compel inquiry, and a great deal of information 
will be thus gained and stored up. A similar collection of 
English woods may be made, and, of course, with much 
greater ease. 

It will be observed that I have said nothing of the pines, 
deal, and larch. They are extensively turned in the lathe , 



136 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

tlie greater part of the common painted furniture being 
made therefrom ; but deal is, nevertheless, not a turning 
wood. It sj)lits easily, has an open grain, with fibres 
loosely connected, and although it can be cut into mould- 
ings with sharp chisels and gouges, it generally needs a 
little rubbing with Dutch rush, fish-skin, or glass-paper ; 
after which, a handful of its own shavings held against it 
as it revolves rapidly in the lathe, is the best polisher. Ot 
course, however, it may be varnished, and of late years it 
has become fashionable, when thus 'finished, for bedroom 
furniture. It is, however, in this case generally improved 
and embellished, by having thin strips of coloured woods 
inlaid in its surface. It is useless for hollow work; and 
wood that cannot be hollowed out satisfactorily, is not to be 
classed among those suitable for the turner. 

Whenever you have time to spare, and are not inclined 
to turn, yet feel disposed to wander into your workshop, it 
is a good plan to trim and prepare pieces of wood for the 
lathe. You need a chopping-block, which is the end of a 
stick of timber sawn evenly across, and stood up in some 
out-of-the-way corner where chips will not be much in the 
way, and a light axe or adze, which latter is said to be the 
best. It is called the bassoohlah or Indian adze, but I 
never had one, nor ever saw it mentioned, except in one 
very excellent book by the late Charles Holtzappftel of 
London, who, indeed, keeps these tools. But a light axe is 



TIIE PARING-KNIFE. 137 

easily obtained, and will do very well. Take care to saw 
the pieces off truly square — I mean straight across the log, 
and not slanting either way. Cut some from your ever- 
green oak, or beech, or elm, for cuucks, remembering to 
have length for the mandrel screw, beyond what you will 
probably need for hollowing out, to take the pieces to be 
turned. Cut some longer than others, and from larger or 
smaller pieces ; from 2-inch diameter to 4, which is a useful 
general size. But your lathe of 5-inch centre will take 
chucks or work of nearly 10 inches, so you can cut some 
few pieces rather larger. Probably, your only work of 6 to 
9 inches diameter will be an occasional bread-platter, or a 
stand of some sort ; your general work will be much less. 
Besides chucks, of which the number is in time very great, 
you will be constantly wanting tool-handles. Cut some 
for these, and placing one end on the chopping- block, trim 
them to something like the required size, but a good deal 
larger round than you think necessary, because you will 
find that the size will deceive you frequently. 

For finally trimming up short pieces, a peculiar knife is 
used by the lathe and tool makers; and when you can spare 
the money you should get one, as you will find it easy to 
use, and it will save you many a cut from the axe. In 
fact, I never advise very young mechanics to make use of 
the latter tool. It requires practice, strength, and a good 
deal of skill to use it well ; and nothing is more easy than 



138 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



to lop off the end of a finger or thumb, and, unfortunately, 
nothing is more difficult than to repair the diimage. The 
paring-knife for short thick pieces mentioned above, is 
made like D, Fig. 43. It consists of a long and curved 




Kg. 43. 

handle, turned up at one end to fit under a staple, E, with a 
cross piece of wood for the hand at the other end, and a broad 
strong blade with one bevel in the middle — (by one bevel I 
mean, that the edge is not like that of an axe, but like that 



THE DRA W KNIFE. 139 

of a carpenter's chisel, the bevel or sloping part being out- 
side). C is the piece of wood to be pared, A the bottom 
board or platform, B a block fastened to it, and made on a 
slope to prevent the tendency of the wood to slip away from 
the knife. The whole of this may be screwed down to the 
bench, or to a heavy stool when in use. The hook and 
ferule should not be made so large and loose as in the 
drawing, and a better joint is that of an ordinary hinge. 
If made loosely, the blade twists about too much from side 
to side, escaping from the wood. There is no danger to the 
fingers from this useful tool, which the young mechanic 
should add to his workshop as soon as he can. 

Another useful and easily-constructed apparatus for the 
preparation of long pieces is the shave -stool, used by 
coopers and chairmakers to hold the pieces securely while 
they are being shaped by the double-handled shave or 
drawknife, as it is often called, a tool omitted from our 
list, but very useful all the same. This is sketched at B, 
Fig. 43. It is often very roughly made, the chief necessity 
being that it shall be strong. It answers also for a sawing- 
Btool. Upon the stool or bench. A, is fixed a sloping block, 
B. A swinging frame, C, is hinged or pivoted at D, so 
that if the lower part is pushed back from left to right, 
the upper cross-bar, E, will come forward and almost touch 
the highest part of the sloping block, B, so that any piece 
of wood, such as F, will thereby be pinched and held tightly 



I40 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

between the rail, E, and the block. The workman sits 
astride of the stool at A, facing the block, and his feet are 
placed on the bar C. When he wishes to hold the wood 
which is to be shaved by the draw-knife C, he presses /ro^ 
him with his feet the lower part of the frame, and he can 
instantly loosen the wood by drawing his feet towards 
him. The movement is made in a moment, and the wood 
shifted round as required, and alternately turned about and 
held tight, while the drawknife is used almost ceaselessly. 
A very few minutes generally suffices thus to pare down 
a rough piece for the lathe. The cross-bar, E, should be 
tolerably strong, and is better if not rounded very nicely, 
as the edges help to hold the wood. The latter is sure not 
to slip away, because the pull of the drawknife tends to 
di-aw it up higher on the slope of the block, which pulls it 
into a still narrower opening. Nothing can exceed the 
ease with which this appliance is used, and the rapidity 
wdth which the required operation can be carried on, No 
wood-turner's shop should be without one. 

ORDER AND ARRANGEMENT OF TOOLS. 

I must say a word or two as to neatness and order, 
especially in the arrangement of tools and appliances for 
the lathe. Whether you have a dozen tools or a hundred, 
always put them in the same place, so that any particular 
article can be found instantly, no time being wasted 



TOOL- RACK. 



141 



hunting up and down, or examining a long row of tools fur 
the one required at that particular time. Turning tools, 
moreover, should be kept distinct from those used for 
carpentry, and in a special rack by themselves. The best 
tool-rack, I think, which can be made, is one like Fig. 44. 




Pig. 44. 

This may be made of deal, but the pieces between the holes 
are thus liable to get split off, and beech or ash is therefore 
preferable. The whole frame is made to be screwed to the 
wall ; or, if the latter is damp, the frame should be first 
screwed to a board covered with baize, and this, in turn, 
fixed to the wall. Thus arranged, it will have a very neat 



142 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

appearance, and the tools being kept dry, will remain 
generally free from rnst. They should, nevertheless, be 
carefully looked over once a week and wiped, when those 
requiring to be ground should be subjected to that opera- 
tion, and thus be ready for future use when required. They 
are bad workmen who allow blunt or damaged tools to ac- 
cumulate, instead of at once setting them in order. The hori- 
zontal bars are bored with holes by means of a centrebit. 
The holes must be arranged as to size by the measurement 
of the ferules of the tool handles, some being larger and 
some smaller, so that when the tool is placed in any hole, 
the handle will drop in to the depth of the ferule and fit. 
Thus the tools will all stand upright, instead of leaning 
from one side or the other. After the holes are made, a 
piece is cut out (see fig. B) at the front edge, because the 
blades of some tools are wider than the ferules, and, in 
addition, if this were not done, the different tool-rails must 
be as far apart as the whole length of the tool (handle and 
all included), to allow of the latter being lifted sufficiently 
high to drop into the holes. 

The strips for the holes should be about 2 inches wide, 
the lower one, for the larger chisels and gouges, rather 
wider than the upper ones. Sometimes these tool-racks 
are fitted up inside a cabinet, whose doors have similar 
racks ; thus all can be shut in out of the reach of dust and 
dirt. Holtzappffel, the great lathemaker of London, fits 



TOOL-RACK. 143 



up Euch cabinets complete iu oak or mabogany, all the 
tools being handled in hard wood and turned to one 
pattern. The cost, however, £5 and upwards, renders 
such less desirable to ^1 e young incoi lOnic, who can rig up 
a common tool-rack, which will serve his purpose equally 
well. It is also far more satisfactory, in looking round 
your workshop, to feel that you have st all events been as 
little extravagant as possible, for amatem's get no return 
tor outlay as tradesmen do. 




Chapter IX. 




HERE is no operation in whicli tlie young 
mechanic is so mucli at fault as in that of 
grinding and setting in order the various tools 
he has to use. Nevertheless he will never he- 
come either an independent workman or a good one, if he 
has to depend upon others for this necessary lahour. 

No doubt, to sharpen a tool which is in very bad order 
is a tedious and tiissome job ; but it is not so wearisome 
an affair to keep tools in condition for work, after they 
have been once thoroughly sharpened by one who under- 
stands how to do it. Never, therefore, use a blunt tool, but 
at once go to the hone or grindstone with it, and put it in 
first-rate order. Time thus employed is never wasted, but 
rather saved ; and the result will appear invariably in the 
work which you are engaged upon. You must, in the first 
place, understand precisely what it is you have to do ; and 



THE ANGLES OF TOOLS. 145 

dlthoiigli the following details may be by some considered 
more adapted for advanced students than for young me- 
chanics, a little attention to the explanations will render the 
matter clear to any boy of age and intelligence to take in 
hand, with reasonable prospect of success, the tools of the 
carpenter, turner, and fitter. I can only say, that boys of 
this generation are wonderfully well off in having these 
things explained to them. Twenty years ago young me- 
chanics had to grope along in the dark, ignorant to a great 
extent of the pi'inciples of work, and almost equally unin- 
structed in the practical part of it. 

In Fig. 45 are represented similar angles to those already 
explained to you, and you will quickly understand how use- 
ful is a little knowledge of the elements of mathematics. 
Suppose A to be a tool, the angle of the point is a right 
angle, or 90°. B is another of 60° at the point, and I have 
drawn a line across to show you that the three sides of this 
figure (called a triangle) are equal. So remember that if 
you want an angle of 60°, you have only to draw a triangle 
of three equal sides, and each of these angles will be 60°. 
Again, I may as well remind you that three times 60° equals.' 
180°, which is equal to two right angles^ so we find here that 
the three angles of an equal-sided triangle equal two right 
angles, and even if the sides are not equal, the same thing: 
is true. For instance, look at the first tool, across which I 
have also drawn a line to make a triangle. The point we 



146 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



know is 90°, and if the sides, a b, are equal (altliougli the 
third line is not equal to either), the two small angles are 





30 



7 ' "/ 



U5 



F *o / F^ 00 



■B hJI I a k/\ l 




Fig. 45. 

each 45°, i.e., 90** between them, so the three angles again 
equal 180". 



THE ANGLES OF TOOLS. 147 

The third tool (which we may suppose a turner's chisel 
held edgewise) is shown to have an angle of 30°, and I have 
added one more which has an angle of 45°. Now all tools, 
if W6'//f ground, are ground to a certain known angle, accord- 
ing to the material which they are intended to cut. Tools 
intended to cut soft woods, like deal, are ground to an angle 
of 20° to 30°, like the chisel seen edgewise. I shall have a 
word to say presently as to the direction in which such 
tools are to he held, in order to make them cut as well as 
possible. A tool for hard wood is given next at E. The 
angle is now at least 40°, and it ranges up to 80°, giving a 
stronger, thicker edge, but not so keen a one. We have, 
therefore, more of a scraping tool than a cutting one, — at 
least, in the way it is usually held. Then we come to the 
tools with which iron is turned and steel also. Fig. F is 
one of these, and the usual angle is 60°, and thence it 
ranges to 90°. Thus you see, advancing from soft wood 
tools to those for hard wood, and thence to a substance still 
harder, we have increased the angle of the edge, beginning 
at 30° and ending with 80° or 90°. But now we come to a 
material which is harder than wood and not so hard as 
iron, yet we use tools with an angle of 90°, which is still 
greater, and 70° is the least angle ever used for this metal. 

Experience only has taught the proper angle for tools, 
and it is found, that if brass and gun-metal are turned with 
tools of a less angle than 70°, they only catch into the 



148 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



material, and do not work at all satisfactorily. You can, 
however, scrape brass, as a finisli, with the thin edge of a 
common chisel ; but then the tool is held so as to scrape 
very lightly and polish ; and its edge will not remain many 
minutes, unless the maker (intending it to be so used) has 
made it much harder than he would make it for sofc wood 
cutting. 

If you buy your tools at any good shop, you will find that 
they are already ground to nearly the angles named, and 
when you re-grind them, you must endeavour to keep them 
to the same. The hevel^ as it is called, of many tools need 
not be ground at all, as they may be sharpened solely by 
rubbing the upper face on a hone, or grinding it, holding it 
so that the stone shall act equally on all parts of it. If, 
however, the tool should become notched, you must grind 
the bevel of it, and then you must try and keep the 
intended angle. One tool, however, or rather one pair of 
tools, viz., turning-gouges and chisels, are very seldom 
ground with a sufficiently long bevel when they first come 
from the maker. The usual shape of the edge is like G, 
whereas the angle should be much less, as seen at H. This 
you must correct when you first grind the tools for use, and 
keep the same long bevel and small angle of edge continu- 
ally afterwards, for you will never make good work on soft 
wood if your chisels and gouges are ground with too short 
a bevel. 



THE ANGLES OF TOOLS. 149 



I must also guard you against another common error, 
^vliicli, however, is very difficult to avoid at first, and only 
long practice will enable you entirely to overcome it. I, is 
the chisel (held edgewise as before) ground as it ought to 
be ; K is the same tool ground as it generally is by youno- 
hands or, even if it is correctly formed at the grindstone, 
one or two applications to the oilstone almost invariably 
round it off as shown. The bevel of all tools must be kept 
quite flat and even, and when the tool is afterwards rubbed 
on the oilstone to give a finish to the edge, another flat, 
even bevel should be made. In the same figure at L is an 
exaggerated view of the chisel, with its first long bevel 
formed at the grindstone, and the second very small 
bright bevel seen at the extreme edge of all such tools 
when they have been set upon the oilstone. This second 
bevel, slight as it is, you will at once understand makes 
the angle of the edge a little larger, therefore you must 
allow for it, and grind a little keener edge than you really 
require. 

Now, all this is very simple and easy to understand, and 
when you have mastered this much, you will be in a fair 
way to understand more. The second part of the subject, 
nevertheless, requires very close attention, and very likely 
may not become quite clear to you when explained. I shall 
therefore draw a line here, and make this lesson a special 
paragraph, which you can look back to some other day, 



1 5 o THE YO UNG ME CHANIC. 

when you are grown from a boy-mechanic to a man, and 
have had more experience in cutting and turning wood and 
metal. 




HE tools above described have their cutting 
edges formed by the meeting of two planes 
at a given angle,-*-these planes being the 
flat bevels (or the flat top and one bevel) 
formed by the grindstone. But in some tools three planes 
meet to form an edge instead of two, and the angle of the 
cutting edge is not the same as that of either of these, 
although it depends upon them, and can be nicely calcu- 
lated. This calculation, however, requires a knowledge of 
some higher branches of mathematics than the young 
mechanic is supposed to be acquainted with, and therefore 
a table is added instead, by which, when the angles of two 
of these planes are known, the third may be at once 
seen, which last determines, of com-se, the angle of the 
edge. 

As an example, take the graver, of which you will find a 
drawing among the other tools, but which I give again in 
this place. M, Fig. 45, is the tool, looking at the face or 
bevel which has been ground upon it, making a lozenge-shape 
or diamond. But this face is a third plane, and the cutting 



THE ANGLES OF TOOLS. 151 

edges, a and h^ depend for their angles upon all three of 
these. Now, for iron we want an angle of 60°. How are 
we to make the edges, a b, of that exact size ? The bar is 
first of all square in section, like N, which would be its 
shape before the third face or bevel is ground, and all the 
angles are now right angles of 90° each. But instead of 
this, we want two of them 60°, the other two being of no 
importance. We simply proceed thus : — Determine which 
angle is to become the point of the tool (it is no matter in 
the present case, as all are alike), then grind away under- 
neath till the new bevel forms an angle of 45° with the 
back (by which I mean the edge which runs along from the 
sharp point towards the handle — the edge x in fig. 0). 
Trigonometry enables us to find out that an angle of 45° is 
the one required, but you will find it in the table annexed 
to this chapter, and an explanation of this table is also 
given to enable you to use it easily. Thus ground, the 
edges a b of fig. will be each formed of two planes 
meeting at an angle of 60°. You can make a gauge of 
card or tin, P, to work by, of the required angle. 

In order to understand the use of this table, it is necessary 
to give names to the several angles of a tool. That upon 
the front or face of the tool, as A of the point-tool, is 
called the plan-angle ; that made by the upper surface and 
the front edge, as B (a, being the angle in question), is 
called the section angle, because, if you were to saw right 



152 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



througli the central line lengthwise, this is the angle that 
would appear at the point, viewing it sideways. Now, if 

TABLE OF ANGLES FOR CUTTING TOOLS. 



\ 



P/LA\IS ANCLE 



-Vv. 



PLAN 




ANGLES. 


SECTION ANGLES, 


140° 


79° 5" 


69° 


68° 


120° 


78° 5" 


67° 


55° 


100° 


77° 


63° 5'' 


49° 6" 


90° 


76° 


61° 


45° 


70° 


72° 5" 


63° 5" 


29° 


Qg edges 


80° 70° 60° 



Fig. 46. 

we look at C, Fig. 47, we shall be able to understand how the 
front line, h c, is obtained, which constitutes one side of the 
section angle of a tool. It results from the meeting of the 
two diamond-shaped planes at the sides formed by the 



I: -^ 



\ B 



;3»^5« 





Fig. 47. 

grindstone, but is dependent also on the plan-angle. These 
two side-planes are to be generally ground at an angle of 



THE ANGLES OF TOOLS. 153 



about 3° from the vertical, which is to give the clearance of 
the tool if held in a fixed position, as in the tool-holder of 
a slide-rest, the tool being supposed horizontal. This is 
in accordance with what I have before told you, viz., that 
the cutting edge should be presented to the work at the 
smallest possible angle, 3° being very small indeed. This 
angle is generally measured by placing the ►iide ground in 
contact with a cone of wood or metal, turned to an angle 
of 3**, such as D, — k being a tool the front of which is 
evidently 3°; or a piece of tin, l^ cut to the same angle, 
and stood on its edge, will answer the same purpose. By 
3°, I mean an angle of 3° measured on the circumference of 
a circle, as I have already explained in a former page, such 
angle being of course at the centre of the circle where the 
lines drawn from the several degrees on the circumference 
meet. 

Now, when you have ground these two surfaces, the line 
<5 c of B (or C) will have a certain slope or inclination 
depending on the plan-angle of the point. The exact 
inclination of it may be therefore said to be accidental ; but, 
whatever it is, it becomes of great importance in the final 
result, being one side of the angle which will give any par- 
ticular angle of cutting edge. And here the table comes 
into use : — Suppose I wish to have an edge of 60°, for 
cutting iron. Measure the jt?^aw-angle, — say it is 90°, 
wLich is that of the graver ; then, on the table, under the 



154 THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

words " plan angle," you will see 90°, and opposite, above 
60° of " cutting edges," you will see 45°. You have only 
to grind back the upper face of the tool, until it makes an 
angle of 45° (section angle) with the front edge or line, h <?, 
and the edges x x will be angles of 60°. Or take the tool 
E, of which the plan angle is 120°, and suppose you want 
cutting edges of 80°, for brass, opposite 120°, and above 
80°, is 78° 5". Grind back the top face to an angle of 
78° 5" (or 78|^) with the point line, and it is done. 

Until you have practically proved it, you can have no 
idea of the vast importance of having correctly-formed 
cutting edges, and of placing them within a hair's-breadth 
of the proper position. But it is in slide-rest work espe- 
cially, and in cutting metal with tools held rigidly in one 
position, that this is of such paramount importance. It 
makes all the difference between cutting off a clean shaving, 
and tearing from the material by main force a quantity of 
disjointed particles, the latter process leaving a rough 
unfinished surface, the former producing one as smooth and 
polished as a sheet of glass; and the advantage of this 
short table is, that you can at any time shape your own 
tools for the particular work in hand. 

After you have had some practice in turning, you should 
certainly learn to shape your tools from square bars of steel, 
worn files, and broken steel tools of various kinds ; and 
before you have arrived at sufficient dexterity to do this 



POSITION OF TOO IS. 155 

entirely by yourself, you will get them roughly shaped for 
you by the blacksmith, and then with grindstone and file 
you will further perfect the angles for use. Steel does not 
require, and must on no account be subjected to, a white 
heat, or you will spoil it hopelessly ; and you can always 
heat it in a common fire, or in the little stove that I shall 
describe in a subsequent chapter, to a temperature that 
will allow you to bend it into any required form with the 
hammer and anvil — a bright red being the utmost heat it 
must be brought to. 

POSITION OF CUTTING TOOLS. 

We must now consider the mode of applying the edge of 
a tool to the work, so as to produce the best effect. First, 
we will consider the case of a gouge and chisel acting upon 
soft wood. 

In Fig. 48, A represents a piece of wood in the lathe, as 
you would see it if you stood at one end of it, and a chisel 
is being held against it. The arrow shows the direction in 
which the wood is supposed to be revolving. Held thus, 
the chisel would scrape, and its edge would be carried off 
at once ; it could not possibly cut. But, held as at B, it 
would cut off a clean and continuous shaving as the wood 
revolved against it, and this shaving would slide off along 
the upper face, ^, of the tool, so that you can see that this face 
ought to oifer the least possible resistance to it. The tool 



1.6 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 




POSITION OF TOOLS. 157 

acts, in fact, like a very tliin, sharp wedge, whicli divides 
tlie material by pressure, which has to be great or slight 
according as the edge is sharp and thin or the contrary. 
Now, if you again look at A, you will see that this wedge- 
like action cannot take place, so that the tool is in its 
worst possible position. 

Between the two positions, however, here shown, are 
several others at a greater or less angle to the surface 01 
the wood ; but the smallest possible angle it can make is 
the best, so long as the thickness of shaving removed will 
suffice for your purpose. This rule holds good with all 
tools, whether carpenters' or turners', which are made with 
sharp-cutting edges. Care must be taken, however, that 
the lower face of the tool does not rub against the work, 
which, again, it is evident, limits to a given degree the 
angle at which the cutting edge is to be applied to the 
work. 

We now pass on to C, which represents the ordinary tool 
for turning iron, held flat upon the rest, the position it 
usually occupies. We see at once that in this case also we 
have a scraping tool only, and that, although the angle of 
the edge is far greater than that of the chisel, it must soon 
be ground off by the action of the metal to which it is ap- 
plied, or of the hard wood, which is also cut in this way. 
But with this form of tool we shall find it impossible to 
apply it so as to cut in the best way ; because if we lower 



158 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

the handle, as "we did that of the chisel, the part below the 
edge will rub against the work, while the edge itself will 
be moved out of contact with it. Thus we are obliged to 
hold the tool in the position first shown ; but we may 
therefore conclude that the tool itself is a badly formed one 
for the intended purpose ; and so it is, although you will 
see it in almost every workshop in the kingdom. Let us 
see what can be done to improve it. At D, I have repre - 
sented the same tool, but the blackened part shows what 
has been filed away from the upper face, and the dotted 
lines show that, when this has been done, a tool is made 
very similar to the chisel for wood, and that it is also now 
in a good position for cutting (not scraping), although it is 
still held horizontally upon the rest. Shavings of iron 
curl off the upper face of this, as wood shavings curl off 
upon a chisel. 

If the angle, however, is too small, the edge will soon be 
broken off, and the tool will dig into the work ; hence the 
necessity of knowing at what angle a tool ought to be 
ground to cut any particular metal successfully. 

Such a tool as the last named, which is intended only to 
cut with the front edge, and which is represented in E, is 
called a single-edged one, because it only cuts in one 
direction, but many others are double-edged, cutting the 
shaving at once on the flat and edge — that is, paring it off 
from the material below and also from the side. For 



POSITION OF TOOLS. 



159 



instance, F is a cylinder of iron, from which a shaving is 
supposed to be in process of being cut. It has to be re- 
moved from the shoulder to which it is represented as still 
adhering, and also from the flat surface, e b, around which 
it was, as it were, once coiled. But this requires two cut- 
ting edges, both acting at the same time, but in difierent 
directions ; and good mechanics therefore so form the tools, 
and so use them, as to cut in both directions, which leaves 
the work beautifullv smooth and even. 

These tools are mostly used in the slide-rest, where their 
true position, once determined, can be accurately main- 
tained ; and it is, perhaps, only with the slide-rest that 
perfect work can be done. There is, however, no reason 
why you should not use tools of all kinds intelligently, and 
understand exactly how they should be formed, and how 
held. Suppose you have a tool correctly made by the aid 
of the table of tool angles already explained, still looking at 
fig. F, you can see that the smaller part of the roller is that 
which is to be left finished, and that it ought to be quite 
smooth, but the shoulder at a is not of the same degree of 
importance. A tool fit for such work would evidently be 
shaped on \i^ plan-angle or face, like H in fig. C or I; and, 
if held as seen, both edges would be brought into action at 
the same time, as will be at once evident on inspection. 
In practice, however, the two edges would not be allowed 
to touch for their whole length, or the angle on the right 



i6o THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

would leave a scratcli upon tlie finished work ; therefore it 
would be eased ofi" a little, as at K, L. But this is evidently 
as nearly as possible the shape and position to be given 
to such a tool, and the edge which has to leave the 
finished surface should, as it were, follow the other ; the 
right-hand angle being ju&t and only just kept out oi 
cut. 

The hand-tools you will generally use are the heel-tool, 
M, held on the rest as shown, which, you see, brings the 
edge into cut at the least possible angle to the work, and 
the nail-head, which is in fact a heel-tool of four faces, or, 
if round, a heel-tool all edge, and which can be rolled over 
as it gets blunted. To these add the graver, of which I have 
already spoken. I have tried to show its position at 0, with 
the bevel of the face pointed in the direction of the shoulder, 
and downwards ; but it can be held face upwards also, and 
in one or two other positions. Always remember that the 
cutting edge is to be presented at a small angle with the 
work, and you cannot go wrong if the tool is well formed. 
The nail-head and heel-tools are single edged, and easily 
ground without the table of angles, but the graver is a 
double-edged tool, properly speaking, although only one 
edge may perhaps be used. 

Having explained the principles upon which you have 
to work as regards grinding your tools and holding them 
when in use, I shall merely add a few remarks as to the 



GRINDING AND SETTING. 161 



action of the grindstone and oilstone, and the proj)er way 
of using them. 

Always let the stone revolve towards you, as if you had 
to turn it smooth with the tool you have to sharpen, except 
when you cannot possibly do so without cutting grooves in 
it. Chisels, knives, axes, planes, and all similar tools 
with flat edges, are to he ground with the stone running in 
that direction, by which means you will avoid giving them 
a wu'e edge, as it is called {i.e.^ a ragged-looking edge), 
and it will instead be even and sharp ; the filament of 
metal being, as it were, driven back into the substance of 
the tool, instead of drawn away from it. Gouges may be 
ground in the same way, but must be rolled about to keep 
Tip the form of edge. It is indeed the easiest way with 
these to hold them across the stone, in the same direction 
as its axis, and then, by rolling them over backwards and 
forwards, you can give a very good shape to the edge, which 
should run slightly to a point, or rather tend to one. They are 
never to be ground square across, like that of the carpenter. 

It is generally necessary to have some sort of rest upon 
which to lay the tools during the operation of grinding, 
but do not trust to special contrivances for holding them 
at the precise angle needed; rather trust to your own skill!,, 
which will increase more and more by being severely exer- 
cised. Always remember to grind your tools to a sharper 
angle than will be ultimately required, that the final angle 



1 62 THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

may be given by the oilstone. Of the latter there are 
many kinds. Nothing probably can surpass a Turkey 
stone, if good, but tliis varies considerably in hardness and 
other qualities. There is a very quick-cutting, slightlj 
coarse stone from Nova Scotia, which is very serviceable, 
as it does this tedious work with great rapidity, not, how- 
ever, putting on the tools a very fine edge, but one that 
admirably suits for such as are to be used on metal. "With 
the rest, a rub or two on Turkey, or Arkansas, or Chorley 
Forest stone, will impart a finish. Arkansas stone, how- 
ever, may be had coarse as well as fine ; it is much liked 
by some, but I prefer the Nova Scotia, as it cuts more 
keenly, and even with the sharpest stone, setting tools is a 
most laborious process. 

The young mechanic will find it very difiicult at first to 
hold the tool steady, and to move it to and fro upon the 
oilstone so as not to give it any rolling movement, by 
which the edge and bevel would be rounded, as I before 
explained, which would in efi'ect enlarge the angle of the 
cutting edge, besides preventing it from being held at a 
sufficiently small angle to the work to cut effectively. 
Nothing but practice will overcome this difficulty ; I shall 
not therefore attempt to describe exactly how the tool 
should be held and the sharpening effected, such descrip- 
tion being not only difficult, but, as experience has proved 
to me, impossible. 



Chapter %. 




E now enter upon the actual work of the lathe, 
which should be comparatively easy to under- 
stand after the foregoing observations. 

Your raw material having been chopped or 
shaved into a rough cylindrical form, yon have to mount it 
in the lathe. I may suppose it a piece of beech for a tool- 
handle. If you have the cross-chuck, you should use it ; 
if not, you may use the prong instead. In either case, 
centre the wood as truly as you can, so that, when the rest 
is fixed near it, the piece may not be much farther from it, 
as it revolves, in one place than another. Mind and screw 
down the back poppit tightly upon the lathe-bed, and also 
the rest, putting the latter as near the work as you can 
without touching it. Now set the lathe in motion, — this 
is tolerably easy, but to keep it in motion will probably 
not be easy at all. It is one of those operations which 



1 64 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

require practice, because while your leg is at work upon 
the treddle, your body must be firm and still, so that you 
feel yourself free to use the tools without giving much 
attention to what your leg is doing. After a while you 
will do this with perfect ease. The wood is, of course, to 
rotate towards you, and the surface will come in contact 
with the edge of the tool as the latter is held tightly down 
on the rest. Now, this is, after all, the real difficulty, for 
every projection striking the tool tends to jerk it off the 
rest, and this has to be resisted with some force. There is, 
however, this advantage in hand-tools, viz., that they may 
be held rigidly yet be allowed some slight play, according 
to the peculiar exigencies of the work ; and at first you 
will save the tool by allowing it to yield slightly until the 
roughest part has been cut away. Afterwards, there is to 
be no movement except that required to make it follow the 
curves or level parts of the work. Do your best first to 
produce a cylinder, i.e.^ a straight, even piece of wood, as 
long as the required handle, and as large round as the 
largest part proposed to be given it. It is the best plan at 
first to copy a well- shaped handle, and to turn as many as 
you want of that size exactly to the same pattern. This 
will give you such an amount of practice in copying form, 
as will stand you in good stead in after days ; for it is not 
easy at first to turn even two things exactly to pattern 
and to size. 



HAND-TURNING IN WOOD. 165 

You must not expect to be able to run your tools along 
the work like a professional or old hand at the lathe ; you 
must do the best you can. Hold the handle in the right 
hand, and with the left grasp both rest and tool together, 
and you will hold it firmly. Then you ought to run it 
along right or left at the right speed and the right angle, 
but you will be unable to do so yet ; — never mind. Re- 
member the principle I have laid down as to the position 
and angles of cutting tools, and trust to time and per- 
severance to make you a good workman. 

The gouge is the easiest and best tool to use at first ; 
and you can do a fair amount of smooth work with it if you 
know how, although smoothing and levelling is the special 
work of the chisel. The gouge, however, is used for all 
sorts of curves and hollows, and though the actual point 
will only turn a groove if held still, the side of the cutting 
part will, if the tool is steadily advanced, turn very fair 
surfaces indeed. I strongly advise practice with this tool 
before attempting to use any other. Your early work is of 
little importance, and you may make up your mind to cut 
several pieces into shavings and chips without very grand 
success, even though you use a chisel ; so I repeat, stick to 
the gouge only for some time, until you can use it towards 
left or right, and with either hand grasping the handle. 

With the chisel, far more care is required than with the 
last named. It is altogether a more difficult tool to use. 



i66 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

Its position may be described as follows, but practice alone 
will render its use easy. Lay it first flat on the rest as you 
would the gouge, and let it point upwards at a similar 
angle, until it also is in the position the gouge would take, 
ready to cut the piece of wood in the lathe, already turned 
to the cylindrical form by the latter tool. You will find 
one point or angle of the edge, the sharpest, reach the wood 
before the other, and will see at once that this would be 
liable to catch in, if the lathe were in motion — and so it 
would. I shall suppose that this sharpest angle is on the 
right-hand side as it lies flat on the rest, and against the 
wood. Raise that angle so that the tool lies a little edge- 
wise on the rest instead of quite flat, when the angle of the 
tool that is highest on the wood will be also raised ofi" it ; 
the lower angle and remainder of the edge still being in 
contact with it. This is its proper position, with the upper 
angle out of contact with the work. You may turn it over 
80 that the keenest angle is the lower one, but then you 
must raise the other, which is now the upper one, for under 
no circumstances must the one that is uppermost touch the 
wood. The chisel, therefore, never lies flat on the rest or 
on the work, but always slightly raised to clear the upper 
point, and in this position you have to keep it, making it 
descend into hollows, and rise over mouldings, and cut 
level places, almost without stopping an instant ; and for 
wood, especially soft wood, the lathe is always itself to be 



HAND-TURNING IN WOOD. 167 

run at a very high speed, by putting the cord on the largest 
part of the fly-wheel and smallest part of the pulley. 

To return to the supposed tool-handle. Having turned a 
cylinder, begin at the ferule, which you must cut off a 
brass or iron tube, or, which is easier, buy by the dozen or 
by the pound ready cut. You will want them three-quarters 
of an inch for your largest tools, and about three-eighths 
for the smallest, with some of half an inch, and you can 
then bore your tool-rack exactly true with centrebits of 
these sizes. Turn the place down for the ferule, and take 
care that you make a tight fit. Gauge with the callipers 
first of all, and turn almost to size, then try it on once or 
twice until it fits exactly. 

If you use the cross-chuck, you have this one great 
advantage — you can take out your work to put on the 
ferule, and replace it exactly as it was before, and it will 
continue to run true. As, however, the piece in the present 
case is but partially turned, it can be replaced with 
sufficient accm-acy upon the prong-chuck, especially if you 
mark the side of the chuck, and of the piece of wood, and 
take care to replace them in the same relative position. 
You must now try with gouge and chisel to imitate the 
pattern handle, remembering always to work downwards 
from right and left into the various hollows — (you cannot 
cut the fibres neatly if you try to go up-hill) ; and where 
the two cuts meet iu the hollows, you must do your best not 



1 68 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



to leave the least ridge or mark. You will be sure to need 
a little glassclotli to finish oif yoiu- work, but do without it 
as much as possible, because it sj^oils the shape of mould- 
ings, rubbing off the sharp angles, which in many cases add 
beauty to the work. If the piece of wood is longer than 
necessary, cut it off with the chisel. In any case, you 
must cut off a piece at the chuck end ; and this being the 
end of the handle which you will hold in your hand, the 
ferule being at the end next to the back poppit, you will 
cut it off neatly with the chisel in finishing it to the 
required shape. 

You would hardly suppose it possible to turn off the end 
of a piece squarely and accurately with the gouge, but it is 
a good tool for the purpose. You must lay it on its side 
upon the rest, so that its back or bevel rests flat against 
the end of the piece from which the superfluous wood is to 
be taken ; the edge or point of the tool is then allowed to 
cut the work by a slight movement of the handle. You 
can only do it in this way, with the bevel against the piece 
from which the cut is to be taken. Turned over to its 
usual position, it will hitch in and spoil the work in a 
moment. In the same way you can face up a bread-platter 
or similar flat work; but such articles as these are not 
mounted between centres, but screwed upon the taper 
screw-chuck or the flat plate with the screw-holes, so that 
you can get to the face of them. At first, however, until the 



HAND-TURNING IN WOOD. 169 

work gets tolerably level, you may bring up the back-centre, 
which will prevent the taper screw of the chuck from being 
accidentally bent; and when all the rough part is cut 
away, and the rim turned down, you can remove the back- 
centre to finish the facing up. In this work, however, the 
back and face do not need much turning, because the 
platter is turned from plank wood, planed up truly on each 
side, and cut roughly into the form of a circle. If accur- 
ately planed, it will run true at once, and the small amount 
of facing may be done with the gouge held as directed. 
Afterwards it may be necessary to take a light scrape with 
a carpenter's chisel, which answers well for this. Then 
finish up with glass or sand paper. Take care to make a 
neat moulding to the edge, which will be about an inch 
thick, and will therefore look very heavy unless turned off 
BO as to thin it down. A platter is a very good and useful 
work for a beginner. 

In turning a platter you will certainly learn one lesson 
in mechanics. You will find that it is very hard work to 
turn anything that is larger than the pulley of your lathe, 
and you will only be able to take a very light cut. Prob- 
ably you will find it the easiest plan to set the lathe in 
rapid movement, and apply the turning-tool only for an 
instant, and then to remove it until the work has recovered 
its impetus, thus cutting it, as it were, by repeated brief 
applications of the tool, instead of by one continuous cut. 



I70 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

I do not mean tliat the tool is to be removed from the rest, 
but only eased off for a second from the work. If the 
latter is very large, and the pulley on the mandrel much 
less in size, you can only work in this way, finishing with a 
very light cut. There is a tool for the face of such flat 
works, called a broad. It is like a broad chisel with the end 
turned up at right angles to the side, only the edge is a 
bevelled one and thick. They work well in hands accus- 
tomed to them, but the gouge and chisel are sufficient for 
your present need. 

I shall sketch here (Fig. 49) one or two articles not re- 
quiring to be much hollowed out, which will help you to 
decide upon such work as is suitable to a young mechanic 
desiring, by steady practice and application, to become a 
proficient at the lathe, and as soft-wood turning will 
teach you more than that in hard wood, I shall direct 
all the following to be made of it by gouge and chisel 
alone. 

These examples are not given as specimens of the rich 
work which can be done in the lathe, but as easy examples 
of elementary turning. No. 1 is a stand for an urn or hot 
water jug, and a slight recess may be made in the upper 
surface, in which a piece of cloth, or carpet, or oilcloth can 
be glued, which will make a neat finish. No. 2 is a bread- 
platter, showing how a little neat moulding takes away the 
clumsy appearance of the thick board necessary for this 



HAND-TURNING IN WOOD. 171 




Fi- 49. 



172 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



purpose. No. 3 is a candlestick. The lower part or stand 
is to be turned from a separate piece of thick board screwed 
upon the taper-screw chuck. While it is in the lathe, the 
liole must be made in the centre (or marked, if the piece is 
not very thick) by holding a pointed tool a little on one 
side of the centre, so as to describe a circle of the requisite 
size. Into this will be fitted a tenon, fig. 3 b, which is 
turned on the pedestal, and which is to be glued into its 
place. By and by you will learn how to cut a screw upon 
such a tenon, which is a far more satisfactory method of 
proceeding ; at present glue will answer just as well. You 
can make the upper part separate, forming the junction at 
the line C (Fig. 49, No. 3), if you prefer it, or if your wood 
is not long enough ; but as you will not hollow out the top, 
you may as well let it be cut out of one piece with the 
pedestal. Turn the top quite level, drive in a piece of 
stout wire, and point the end of it. Cut out a round piece 
of tin to fit, and make a hole in the middle of it to let the 
wire through ; drop it over the point, and let it rest on the 
candlestick; a wax candle can be spiked upon the wire, 
and will stand firm. 

Figs. 7 and 8 are drawings of tool-handles. These are 
the best shape to grasp in the hand, and they look neat 
in the tool-rack. Tool-handles with a number of mould- 
ings, are not only absurd, but are uncomfortablo to hold, 
and not at all suited to their intended purpose. 9 and 10 



HAND-TURNING IN WOOD. 173 



are other forms of mouldings, and are given merely to show 
liow angular and rounded forms should be combined to 
produce a good eiiect. If these were to be made in hard 
wood, they might be turned with beading and moulding 
tools similar to those at A, B, C, D of this figure ; such 
tools are bevelled only on one side, and being held flat upon 
the rest, cut the curves and hollows rapidly, and clean. 
Sometimes a number of these are arranged side by side, so 
as together to make up the outline of the intended mould- 
ing, and being held in position by a handle designed for the 
purpose, are presented all at once to the work as it revolves. 
In other cases, a flat plate of steel is filed into shape, and 
bevelled to form a compound moulding tool. Of course, 
such contrivances greatly help the turner, especially if he 
has to turn a number of articles of exactly the same pat- 
tern, such as the pawns of a set of chessmen, or a set of 
draughtsmen ; but none of these tools answer upon soft 
wood, because, as already explained, tools which have to be 
held horizontally will cut and tear up the fibres of all 
woods that are not very hard and compact in grain. 

Fig. 6 is a profile of a draughtsman, and fig. 6 b shows 
how they ought to be made, but for this you cannot use 
soft wood, and had better make them of box and ebony, or 
holly and ebony — (and, by and by, of black-wood and 
ivory). A cylinder is first turned, then marked off as shown 
with grooves cut by a parting-tool. The pieces are then 



174 THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

separated with a fine saw, and a chuck is hollowed out to 
fit them so that each can be readily turned upon the face. 
The desired mouldings having been made on one side, the 
disc is turned over in the chuck, and the other side operated 
upon in the same manner. 

It is quite possible, you must understand, to cut these 
out of soft wood, even pine or deal. We often see boxes of 
toys, children's wooden plates and cups, turned very neatly 
of this material ; but it is not worth while to use it if you 
can obtain boxwood. Moreover, box can be stained black to 
imitate ebony, and is very often made to serve instead of it. 

Figs. 4 and 5 are ring-stands for the toilette-table — very 
useful presents these to mothers, sisters, and, last but not 
least, lady cousins, and other young ladies too, perhaps, who 
are not cousins. These can be made in a variety of ways, 
and give great scope for the exercise of your powers of 
design. The first is a simple pedestal on a stand, turned 
quite smooth in an elegant and simple curve. The stand 
is also made without elaborate mouldings, giving altogether 
a chaste and elegant appearance to the design. The ex- 
tremity is tipped with ivory, and an ivory ring surrounds 
the bottom of the pedestal. If this is made in plain deal, 
and thoroughly well finished and varnished, it will look 
very well. The nicest soft English wood, however, for thia 
is certainly yew, some of which is beautifully fine in grain ; 
and as it will take an excellent polish, it always looks 



HAND-TURNING IN WOOD. 175 

well ; moreover, it Ccan be turned entirely with gouge and 
chisel. 

This ring-stand will be made in two parts ; the pedestal 
being separately turned at one end, a tenon will have to be 
made as in the case of the candlestick, and just above it 
the wood is to be turned oif a little as if you were going to 
make a larger tenon. Over this a ring of ivory may be 
slipped and glued on, and the two can then be turned 
together. A carpenter's chisel will do for the ivory, which 
will be scraped into form by it. It may be polished with 
a little chalk on a moist rag or flannel. You can buy odds 
and ends of ivory from the turners in rings and solid 
pieces, which will come in for all sorts of decorations, and 
you should save all old handles of knives, tooth-brushes, 
and such like, for a similar purpose. Both ivory and bone 
smell very disagreeably when in process of being turned. 
To tip such articles with ivory, you can drill a small hole 
in the top of the pedestal with great care, and fit the ivory 
after being turned into it; or you can, if the work is 
larger, bore the ivory and slip it on the wood ; — piuch 
depends upon the size and nature of the work. 

The second ring-stand is of rather more elaborate construc- 
tion. The baskets are made of little turned pedestals fitted 
into a round piece of wood to form the bottom, and into a 
ring which makes the rim. Baskets of this form (even 
apart from the ring-stand) are very neat and useful 



176 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

It is very easy to turn rings of any size. Mount a piece 
of board in the lathe on the taper screw chuck — it need not 
even be cut to a round form ; then determine the size of 
the proposed ring, and, holding a parting-tool upon the 
rest turned round to face the work, mark two circles, 
and deepen the cuts, until the ring falls off. Take care 
that the outer one is cut through first. The ring thus cut 
may be afterwards placed upon a cylinder turned to fit it, 
and finished upon the outside, and then placed inside a 
chuck of wood bored out to suit the work, and neatly 
rounded off upon the interior surface. Of course, if you 
have to make rings of bone or ivory which are already 
hollow, you can at once run a mandrel or spindle of wood 
or metal through them and subject them to the various 
operations required. 

Mandrels, or tapered cylinders of brass or ii'on, fitted as 
chucks to the mandrel of the lathe, are sold on purpose for 
this work, but a wooden rod answers just as well, and costs 
nothing. Turn such a rod a little tapering, and take care 
not to drive the work too far upon it, because, although at 
first you can safely drive it on very tightly, if it is of ivory or 
bone, you will frequently find your ring suddenly split and 
open when its thickness has been reduced to the required 
standard. If a number of equal rings are required, it is 
the best plan to turn a hollow cylinder and then saw off 
the rings as you are directed to saw off the draughts- 



HAND-TURNING IN WOOD. 177 



men. They will, of course, have to be finished in a 
chuck. 

If you look round any fancy warehouse in wliich Swiss 
carvings are sold, you will see how beautifully soft white 
pine can be worked in the lathe by keen tools and clever 
hands. In Tunbridge, too, many thousands of soft-wood 
articles are manufactured yearly, some plain and merely 
varnished, and some curiously inlaid with coloured woods, 
so that you need not despise such materials as willow and 
sycamore and the various pine woods, which are all capable 
of being made into pretty articles of one kind or another. 
The varnish, however, for these is such as to coat them 
with a glassy layer which does not sink into the wood. 
Common rosin dissolved in turpentine or in linseed oil, 
kept on the hob so as to get warm, answers well for these 
deal articles, and is extensively used where the slight tinge 
of yellow is not considered important. There are many 
other much paler varnishes for works of greater value, or 
where the white wood is to be carefully preserved. Any of 
these can be had at oil and colour shops. 

You will certainly find a difficulty in turning all exactly 

alike the little pillars of these liaskets. You should turn 

several at once out of the same piece, separating them; 

afterwards. Thus your pattern will always be close to the 

half-executed copy, which will somewhat assist you. Do 

your best in this respect, but be specially careful, at any 

M 



178 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 




Fig. 60. 



HOW TO MAKE A BACK-STAY. 179 

rate, to make all exactly the same length. One pillar is 
shown separate, but you can design a pattern for yourself. 

Begin by turning a long cylinder; then set off the 
respective lengths of the pillars. Turn one complete as a 
pattern, and set the callipers to the largest part of it. 
Then go to work upon a second, using callipers freely at 
all parts of it. As these pillars will all be slender, you 
will be in great danger of breaking them; therefore use 
your tools lightly, taking only a very slight cut. But with 
all your care you will find it difficult to turn a row of more 
than two or three of the size wanted for such little baskets, 
I shall therefore show you how to make a support to fit at 
the back of the bar you are at work upon to support it 
against the pressure of the tool. 

Fig. 50 gives a representation of one or two such sup- 
ports, which are often required in turning. The first is the 
most simple, and is the one most generally in use, because 
easy to make and to apply, and it answers tolerably well. 
A is merely a piece of wood, about three-quarters of an inch 
thick, cut as shown. This is stood up between the lathe-beds, 
like C, and fastened with a wedge before and behind. It 
allows the work in the lathe to revolve in the notch which 
is cut in it, as is evident from the drawing. One, two, or 
more such may be used if necessary. They must be carefully 
adjusted, so as not to bend the piece which is to be turned, 
and which is to be just supported, but no more. Where 



i8o THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

the back-stay, as this contrivance is called, comes in contact 
with the work, the latter is to he left of the size it was when 
this was adjusted to it as long as possible. It must then 
be shifted a little, and that part which formerly rested 
against it finished. 

B is another simple form of back-stay, capable of nicer 
adjustment. The foot is that of a common rest, but if you 
have not a spare one, any wooden support is quite as good. 
Into this fits a turned part of the upright x y, — the upper 
part, y, of this being planed flat. Neither should be of deal ; 
ash or elm is preferable. Thus the part x y can be raised 
and lowered at pleasure in the rest-socket. The top part 
is made of a half-inch board, about 2 or 2\ inches wide ; 
a slit is cut in it, and it is fastened to ar y by a short bolt 
and nut. Thus it is easy to raise and lower the end of this 
part, and to put it nearer to, or farther from, the work in 
the lathe, against which it can be adjusted with great 
nicety. Although there are several forms of back-stay, of 
more or less complicated construction, I know of none more 
generally serviceable than this last, which the young 
mechanic can make for himself. The notch should be 
lubricated with soap, or, if the blackness is not of import- 
ance (as when this part, which rotates in the notch, has 
finally to be cut away), with a mixture of soap and black- 
lead. This, remember, is always to be applied to wooden 
surfaces that are to work easily upon each other. 



THE CONE-PLATE. i8i 

It will sometimes happen that you require to bore a hole 
through a long piece of wood, as would be the case in 
making a wooden pipe, flute, bodkin-case, and many similar 
articles. To hold these in a chuck only would be often 
impossible, because the hole in the chuck would have to be 
as deep at least as half the length of the piece to be 
bored. 

For this kind of work, therefore, and for turning up a 
point on the end of a cylinder of iron or steel, like that of 
your back poppit, the following contrivance is used, which 
is called a boring-collar or cone-plate. It is represented in 
Fig. 50, D and E. This consists of a circular plate of 
metal, three-quarters of an inch thick, turning upon a lai-ge 
screw or pivot at its centre, by which pivot it is attached to 
a short poppit head, fitting between the bearers of the lathe 
as usual. There are six or eight conical holes bored round 
the circular plate, each of a different size ; and these are so 
arranged as to height, or distance from the centre, that the 
top one (being in a perpendicular line passing through its 
centre and that of the bolt) is exactly as high as the axis 
of the mandrel. Thus, if it is clamped in that position, 
with the largest side of the conical holes next the mandrel, 
a piece of wood might be held at one end in a chuck, while " 
the other might rest in such hole as was best suited to its 
size, not actually passing through it, but resting in the 
inside of the conical hole, in which it would rotate almost 



]82 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

as freely and as truly as if it were supported by the ordin- 
ary point of the back poppit. 

Sometimes it may be preferred to allow the end of such a 
piece of work to project through the cone-plate, a collar 
being turned on it to prevent it from going too far. A 
tool-handle, for instance, of the pattern before given, may 
be beautifully bored in Ihe lathe by allowing the ferule to 
rotate in one of the holes of the cone-plate, the shoulder 
behind preventing it from going too far. The rest is 
brought round in front of the end of the handle, and a hole 
bored by a drill for wood ; or, the point of a drill is brought 
against it, while the other end (having had a slight hole 
made by a centre-punch for the purpose) is allowed to 
centre itself on the point of the back poppit. The screw of 
the latter is then advanced, and the drill being prevented 
from itself revolving either by being grasped by the hand 
or a vice, a beautifully straight and even hole is rapidly 
made. 

Fig. 50, F, shows the position of the various pieces. 
The drill is here kept from rotating by a small spanner, the 
handle of which comes against the bed of the lathe. A 
great deal of work, both in wood and metal, is always 
drilled in this way. 

For wood, a small nose-bit, or auger-bit, or one of the 
American twist-drills, can be used, and this may be suc- 
ceeded by a larger, until the hole will allow of the intro- 



THE CONE-PLATE. 183 

duction of a fiuishing-tool of some kind, held in the hand. 
Of course the latter is not necessary in boring out handles 
for the tang of a tool, but only in turning boxes for pencils, 
needles, or other articles, which require to be neatly finished 
inside as well as out ; all these are to be bored before the 
work is cut free from the superfluous wood out of which it 
was turned. You can even use the cross-chuck for this 
work. 

It matters little, when using the cone-plate, whether you 
finish the turning of the outside before or after the boring 
is done. Very generally the box or other article is bored 
first, quite in its rough state, except that a short piece is 
turned down to fit into a hole of the cone-plate; and, 
keeping the latter in its place all the while, the wood is 
turned down and polished before removing it from the 
lathe. Sometimes, especially with metal, which is in no 
danger of splitting, the cone-plate is removed as soon as 
the hole has been made and replaced by the back-centre, 
the point of which, entering the hole, retains the work in 
its place while the outside is being fashioned. This of 
course insures the exterior surface being exactly concentric 
with the inside, which is often absolutely necessary in parts 
of machinery ; but if wooden articles are finished in this 
way, there is great danger of their being split by the pres- 
sure of the back-centre as the work grows thinner and 
thinner under the action of the tools. Moieover, it must 



J 84 ^HE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



be remembered tliat the back-centre, being itself of a 
conical form, will injure the form of the hole in metal by 
making it wider at the mouth if used in this way, and 
sometimes this may be of importance. 

There is a fau't in the cone-plate which boys will under- 
stand, and men, too, I imagine. It costs money! Therefore 
I shall now show you how to make a substitute, -which will 
cost something under a shilling, if you do not mind a little 
trouble ; but, if you do, you will never make a good work- 
man, nor will you be good for much, I fear, in any way! A 
metal cone-plate for a 5-inch lathe costs £2 at least. 

I shall suppose you want a cone-plate in which to 
bore your tool-handles, for it is not easy to do this with 
a gimlet, so that the tools, when inserted, shall stand 
straight in their handles. If you have a 5-inch centre 
lathe, i.e., a lathe in which the central line or axis of 
the mandrel is 5 inches from the lathe-bed (in which 
case you can turn anything nearly 10 inches in diameter), 
cut out of a piece of beech, 3 inches thick, a short 
poppit 2>^ inches high, of some such shape as seen in the 
fig. G; and in the lower part (which must be cut to fit 
between the lathe-bearers, and must be made square at the 
sides and true, so that the whole will stand squarely across 
the lathe-bed), either cut a mortice, a, for a wedge, or bore 
a hole for a screw, which must have a plate and nut to fasten 
under the bed like other poppits. Near the top, and exactly 



no IV TO MAKE A CONE-PLATE. 185 

in the centre, bore a hole to receive the bolt K, similar to 
that in the metal cone-plate already described, and which 
will be tightened by a nut at the back. This supplies the 
place of the short iron poppit, and now you have to con- 
trive something to replace the circular plate of holes. Cut 
two or three strips of any tolerably hard wood, H (beech 
will answer very well), 6 inches long, half an inch thick, 
and 2 inches wide. Cut in these a slot and a round hole, 
which must be carefully made with a centrebit. This hole 
is to be for one of those in the usual round plate, so be 
careful in making it. Work thus: Plane up the piece 
from wood rather more than the half inch required ; draw a 
line exactly down the middle of it on both sides e^f ; 
choose a centrebit of the size you require j put the point 
upon this line, about 1^ inches or more, according to the 
size of the required hole, and bore steadily a little way 
into the wood. Then turn it over, measure carefully so as 
to get the precise spot right, and finish from that side. If 
the centrebit is sharp, and the wood sound, you will now 
have a neat round hole. Let the slot be also cut from both 
sides of the piece of wood with a sharp chisel, taking care 
that the centre of it agrees with the line that you made for 
a guide. 

Three or four of these should be made, each with a dif- 
ferent sized hole, or more if required ; but you can add new 
ones at any time. The bolt, K, is to be made with a large 



i86 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

head flat on the under side, and the upper part, above the 
scre"w, is to be square for three-eighths of an inch, and the 
slot in the pieces of wood must just fit this squared part. 
Now, as this is three-eighths only, and the thickness of the 
wood is four-eighths or half an inch, it is plain that the 
nut will draw, and the head of the screw clamp this tightly. 
You Clin, if you like, however, make the hole in the poppit 
square also, and then let the squared part of the screw be 
long enough to reach almost entirely through both pieces. 
Then slip a washer (an iron plate with a hole in it like L) 
over the end of the screw, and fix all with the nut. Thus 
you have a boring collar with one hole, and this you can 
raise or lower the length of the slot so as to get it exactly 
the right height, and when it is so arranged, one turn of 
the nut at the back will fix it. 

This you will find a very simple form of boring-collar, 
easy to make, and of practical use. If you really take all 
the care you can, and follow the directions I have given, I 
do not see how you can possibly fail in constructing one. 
You should have a sliding-plate with a hole for each size 
of tool-handle ferule used, as you will frequently be making 
these. 

HOLLOWING OUT WORK. 

As I have spoken of boring, I will go on to treat now of 
the general practice of hollowing out chucks and boxes, 
and such like. K this is to be done in soft wood, such as 



HOLLOWING OUT WORK. 187 



willow, no tool will answer so well as the hook- tools, of 
which I have given drawings. But these are very difficult 
indeed to use, owing to their tendency to catch in, or take 
suddenly a deeper cut than was intended. Nothing but 
practice will teach exactly how to use these tools; but then, 
when the difficulty of so doing is once mastered, nothing 
can be more rapid or more satisfactory than the work 
which they will do. Small bowls are hollowed almost 
instantaneously by their means in skilled hands ; whereas, 
with other tools, it becomes not only a tedious job, but if 
it is done at all, it is but roughly, the wood having to be 
rather scraped out than cut. Using, however, the back of 
the gouge as explained before, in the directions given for 
squaring up the end of a cylinder with this tool, it is 
possible to hollow out soft wood with it, but not very 
satisfactorily. In any case, other tools (generally a car- 
penter's chisel) must be used to work into the angle which 
neither the gouge nor hook-tool can, of course, reach. 
Hence it is generally so much easier to cut out boxes and 
such like articles in box or hard wood, that this is nearly 
always used by amateurs. 

The ordinary way to turn a box is as follows : — Prepare the 
wood as usual, turning it cylindrical, using any chuck you 
please for this work ; cut off with the parting-tool rather 
more than the box and its cover together will require, and 
drive the piece thus separated into a cup-chuck, [You 



i88 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

may, if you prefer it, screw upon the nose of the mandrel, 
or upon the taper screw-chuck, the rough piece of the 
proper length, instead of first turning a cylinder to cut 
from. If you have several boxes to make of one size, the 
cylinder method is to be preferred.] Turn it up again 
quite true, for although it was correct before you cut it off, 
it will not be so now. Square up the end, and turning 
round the rest so as to stand across the face of the wood, 
begin to hollow out the cover. Use either the round end or 
pointed tool at first, and then a carpenter's chisel or flat 
tool to finish. Be very careful that the sides (I must call 
it by this name, although a circle has not more sides than a 
plum-pudding) are turned square to the bottom, or else, 
when the cover is put on, it will perhaps fit just at the 
entry, and be quite loose when fairly on ; or, it may be 
that it will be easy at first, and when you press it on, it 
will be tighter and become split, — a very common but 
unpleasant occurrence. Do not, moreover, turn down 
these sides as thin as they will ultimately be; because, 
after the box is hollowed and the cover fitted on, both will 
have to be slightly turned together to finish them nicely. 
Moreover, you may not wish your box to have plain sides, 
but may prefer to mould them into a more elegant form. 
All these little questions have to be duly considered in 
turning, for a mistake is often made, and the work spoiled, 
for want of a little timely consideration. 



IfOlV TO MAKE A BOX, i^g 

The next point on which you have to be on your guard is 
this, — having turned out the cover, you have to cut it off, 
not with a saw, but with your parting-tool. Now, be sure 
to leave thickness enough for the top of the cover ; or, just 
as you think you have nearly severed the latter from the 
rest of the piece of wood, you will see a beautiful little 
ring tumble off, — sad relict of your box cover, which has 
come to an untimely end. 

The sliding square of the turner, of which I gave a 
description among the list of tools, will always enable you 
to gauge both the depth to which the work is hollowed out, 
and also the squareness of the inside to the bottom. But 
if you have no turner's square, you can easily gauge the 
depth inside, and thus see how much is necessary to be 
allowed for the thickness of the top. Keep the parting- 
tool edgewise on the rest, which should be raised to such a 
height that, when this tool is laid horizontally across it, it 
will point nearly to the centre of the work, i.e.,, the axis of 
it. After the parting-tool has cut into the wood a little 
way, widen the groove a little, and continue to give the tool 
a little play right and left, unless its end is so much wider 
than its blade generally that it will clear itself perfectly as 
it goes deeper and deeper into cut. If it should bind, it is 
almost certain to break, for it is a very thin tool ; and it is 
better to waste a little more of your material than to have 
to replace a spoiled tool. 



I90 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



I shall suppose that you have now succeeded in cutting 
off the cover ; jick it up and lay it near you. Directions 
are given generally to turn down next the flange upon 
which the cover of the box is to be fitted, but this is not to 
be wholly done yet, and you may proceed to hollow it out 
as soon as you have turned down just so much of this flange 
as will show you how much to leave in hollowing out the 
box. If jonjit the cover before you have hollowed out the 
box, you will have the mortification of finding it a great 
deal too loose when the box is finished, because the latter 
will contract in size as soon as ever the solid core is 
removed from it. After you have hollowed it out, you must 
gauge the inside of the cover, and the outside of the place 
that it is to occupy, with the in-and-out callipers, or with a 
common pair, and turn the flange till it is almost correct 
to this gauge, and only a very little larger than it ought to 
be. When this is the case, do not trust any longer to the 
callipers, but try on the cover again and again until you 
get a nice fit. You must finish the flange with a chisel, 
held flat ; and again I repeat the caution about keeping it 
truly square, so that the cover will hold equally tight in all 
positions. When this is the case, leave it on, and give a 
last touch to both box and cover together, when you ought 
barely to be able to see the joint. 

You have now only to cut oiF the box as you did the 
cover, using the same precautions. Before it is quite 



SCREWS AND TWISTS. 191 

pevered, however, you should give it a polish. Pick up 
a handful of shavings, and while the work is revolving 
as rapidly as possible, hold them with some pressure 
against it. Every fibre will be at once laid smooth, and it 
will look nice and bright at once. You can varnish it 
afterwards if you like, or French-polish it. Yarnish is 
best for boxwood, and French-polishing requires special 
directions, which I shall give you separately in a future 
page. 

To be able to make a box well^ with its cover well fitted, 
is to be able to do all kinds of similar work. Yet in these 
may be special details deserving notice. Probably, there- 
fore, when speaking in a future page of particular objects 
which have to be turned, such special details will be more 
fitting than if given here. I shall therefore pass on to 
another part of the subject, namely, screwed and twisted 
work. 

SCREWS AND TWISTS.' 

Neither of these can be very accurately made without 
special and somewhat expensive apparatus ; but both can 
with practice be done tolerably well by the young mechanic 
with ordinary simple means. I need not describe a screw, 
for all boys know what it is ; and sporting boys, of which 
in these days there are many, know what sort of animal a 
screw is. Well, never mind. I am always riding, a screw, 
I believe, for it is my hobby, and there is a great deal of 



192 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



science in a screw; and as for the variety of the manufactured 
article, there is plenty of it. There is the corkscrew, which 
is, after all, not a screw, but a twist, — and this is often the 
means of making men screwed ; and the miserly screw, who 
skins fleas for the sake of their fat ; and there is the 
mythical, invisible, moral (and im-moral) screw, which 
hard-fisted men inflict upon their weaker brethren ; and 
there is the gigantic screw of the Great Eastern steamship ; 
and the minute, microscopic screw of the lady's tiny 
jewelled watch. 

There are several modes of cutting screws, in the lathe 
and out of it. The small ones required for holding together 
the different parts of machinery, as well as larger ones for 
the same purpose, are always cut with stock and dies. 
The very small ones used by watchmakers, and all below 
one-eighth of an inch diameter, are made by the screw- 
plate. But when either large or small screws are required 
of great accuracy, they are invariably cut in the lathe, and 
with the aid of mechanical appliances of the most delicately 
accurate description. These are all metal screws. But the 
young mechanic will often wish to put screwed covers to 
his boxes, and to join various parts of his work by screwed 
connections instead of glue ; and all these may be cut in the 
lathe by simple hand-tools skilfully applied, although the 
operation is sufficiently fraught with difficulty to require a 
great deal of practice before it can be done with certainty 



SCREWS AND TWISTS. 



193 



of success. At tlie same time, my young friends cannot 
possibly do better than practise this operation, for there are 
numberless cases in which screws cannot be conveniently 
cut in any other way, and it is, further, an accomplishment 
that will at once stamp them as skilful workmen. 

The tools required are represented at A, B, Fig. 51. A 
is an outside, and B an inside screw chasing-tool. These 




Fig. 51. 



are always made in pairs, of exactly the same pitch, Le.y 
the outside tool being applied to the inside, the respectiva^ 
notches and points will exactly fit into each other. If you 
were to examine the under side of these tools, shown at C,. 
you wo aid notice that the notches do not run straight, but 
slanting. They are in fact parts of screw threads ; and you 

N 



194 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

could make a tool of this kind out of a common screw nut. 
as I have shown you at D, only it would be too much hol- 
lowed out to make a good tool. 

Now, supposing you were to hold the tool A flat on the 
rest, while a cylindrical piece of wood revolved in contact 
with it, you would cut a series of rings only ; but if you were 
at the same time to slide the tool sideways upon the rest, so 
that by the time the wood had revolved once, the first point 
of the tool would have just reached the spot which was oc- 
cupied by the second when you started, you would have 
traced a screw thread of that particular pitch. This is what 
you have to learn to do always, and with certainty, no 
matter what pitch of tool you may be using, and it is easy 
to understand how difficult the operation must be to a 
beginner. Indeed, there are numbers of otherwise good 
turners who have never succeeded in mastering this work. 
Nevertheless it can be done, and, although difficult, it is 
not so much so as might be supposed. Indeed, at first sight 
it would hardly be believed possible^ because each different 
pitch of tool, and each different-sized piece of work, 
requires a different speed of traverse to be given to the 
tool. But a practised hand will strike thread after thread 
without failure, and those whose trade is to make all sorts 
of screw-covered boxes and similar articles, will execute 
the work with as much speed and apparent ease, as they 
would any ordinary operation of turning. I shall tell you 



SCREWS AND TWISTS. 195 

by and by, however, of several ways to escape this diffi- 
culty of screw-cutting, — lathes being fitted in various 
ways to insure good work, in some cases by carrying 
forward the tool at exactly the right rate of traverse, and 
at others by moving along the work itself at the proper 
speed, while the cutting tool is held immovably fixed in one 
position, — and I will give one tool of great service which 
will guide you in starting the ordinary chasing- tool ; and 
a good start is here truly '' half the battle." 

The chasing-tool must run from right to left for an 
ordinary right-handed screw (and a left-handed one is very 
seldom required), so that the young mechanic need not 
trouble himself about it. Precise directions cannot be 
given further than to have a rest with a very smooth and 
even edge, which will not in the least hinder the traverse 
of the chasing-tool, and to get the lathe into steady, 
equable motion. Then hold the tool lightly, but firmly, 
keeping it at right angles with the work. Allow it only 
just to touch until you find you have got into the right 
swing. It is all a matter of knack and practice ; and if you 
succeed quickly, you may congratulate yourself. 

The inside chasing-tool is used in precisely the same 
way, running it from the outer edge of the hole inwards. 
To some this is an easier tool to use than the outside 
chaser. I cannot say that I find it so ; especially as one 
bas to work more in the dark ; unless the work is of large 



tg6 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

diameter like the cover of a box, and even then the work is 
gufificiently difficult owing to the shallowness of the lid, 
•which necessitates the instant stopping of the tool for a 
fresh cut. For you must understand that you have to 
deepen the screw-threads very gradually, and it will take 
several traverses of the tool to cut them to a sufficient 
depth. 

The chasers require to be very sharp to cut wooden screws 
neatly, but observe you must only rub the upper flat face 
upon the oilstone, or, if a notch has been made by using 
the tools upon metal (they will cut brass well with care), 
grind them in the same way ; the great secret being to hold 
the tool quite flat on the stone. You will thus, even by 
continual grinding, only thin the blade of the chaser, 
which will thus last for a long time. A practised hand 
will even cut a good thread with any flat piece of steel 
filed into equal notches, but a screw-chaser is the only tool 
really fit for the purpose. 

The most efiectual remedy for the screw-cutting diffi- 
culty, is unfortunately rather expensive in its best form. 
But in another, it is by no means costly ; and although it 
may not look so well as the first, it is equally effective, and 
extensively used by the turners at Tunbridge Wells, who 
make those beautiful little inlaid boxes and other articles. 
I shall explain this to you, therefore, first : — 

A, is a lathe-head, something like the one I have already 



CHASING SCREWS. 



19) 



described, but you will notice that the mandrel is a much 
longer one, and has several short screws cut upon it, each 
one being of a different ''thread" or "pitch."* This 




Fi?. 52. 



mandrel runs through two collars, so that, besides turn- 
ing round, it can be pushed end-wise. Now, supposing 

• In the drawing, they are all accidentally drawn of the same pitch. 



198 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

I was to hold the point of a tool firmly against either of 
the screws, and at the same time was to turn the pulley 
and mandrel, you will understand that it would run back- 
wards or forwards in its collars, at such a rate as the 
screw-thread compelled it to move. This is the plan of 
the traversing mandrel ; and now supposing that you had 
a box held as usual in a chuck, and while the mandrel was 
compelled to move end-wise as described, you were to hold 
a pointed tool against it, the tool would evidently cut a 
screw-thread of exactly the same pitch as that upon the 
mandrel against which the pointed tool first spoken of was 
applied. But in practice, a single-pointed tool held against 
the mandrel would not answer very well, and so the follow- 
ing plan is adopted instead, which answers perfectly. 

Fig. 52, C, is called a half-nut. It has a set of screw- 
threads, cut where the semicircular hollow is, which threads 
fit one of the screws on the mandrel. A whole row of these 
half-nuts are fitted to turn at one end upon a long bar, 
so that either one can be raised up at pleasure to touch the 
screw upon the mandrel, which has threads of the same 
pitch as itself, B. These, then, are ranged under the 
mandiel, and when it is desired to make It traverse in its 
collars, one of these half-nuts is raised and kept up by a 
wedge placed underneath it. When no screw is required, 
a somewhat similar half-nut, but with merely a sharp edge 
instead of a thread, is raised, and this edge falls into a 



CHASING SCREWS. 199 



uotcli or groove turned upon the mandrel, or sometimes a 
back centre-screw is added like D, and when no screw has 
to be cut, this is run up against the mandrel like an 
ordinary lathe. 

In the more expensive traversing mandrels, although the 
principle is the same, there is a little difference in the ar- 
rangement of the different parts. The mandrel is not very- 
much longer than usual ; and it has no screw-threads cut 
upon it. But a number of ferules like K, are made each 
with a screw upon its edge, and one of these of the desired 
pitch is slid upon the end of the mandrel at ^, fig. P, 
and is there held by a nut or otherwise, so that it cannot 
move out of its place. The half-nut is seen at a. It con- 
sists of a piece of brass or steel of the form shown with a 
hole in the middle, and a screw cut upon each hollow, so 
that it is a circle or set of half-nuts of different pitches. 
This slips over a pin at a, and when the screw h is turned, 
it draws up this pin and the nut attached, until the latter 
comes in contact with the ferule upon the end of the 
mandrel. This is very neat but expensive. Now, by far 
the cheapest and best way for the young mechanic, is to set 
boldly to work to conquer the difficulty of chasing screws 
by hand. There are even disadvantages in the expensive 
form of a traversing mandrel, which render it by no means 
a desirable mode of fitting up a lathe, and after all, the 
length of screw which it enables one to cut is very limited, 



200 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



and in addition, it is not every day, nor probably once a 
month, that screw-cutting will be necessary at all. My 
advice, therefore, is, do not get a traversing mandrel until 
you can cut screws well with the chaser. When you can 
do this, you will be able to judge of the advantage or dis- 
advantage of one. 

By far the greater number of common screws are cut 
without the lathe, by screw-plates, or stocks and dies, 
and the nut, or hole into which such screws are to fit, 
is cut with a tap. A screw-plate is a simple affair, — 
a mere flat plate of steel, in which several holes are 
drilled, which are afterwards threaded by screwing into 
them taps, or hard cutting steel screws of the size re- 
quired; the plate is then hardened by being heated red- 
hot and suddenly cooled, after which being much harder 
than brass, iron, or steel which has not gone through such 
process, it will in turn cut a thread upon any of these by 
simply screwing them into it. But although this will 
answer for small and common screws, it is not at all suit- 
able for better ones, because the thread is burred up, not 
cut cleanly as it would be with a proper tool. A far better 
plan is a stock and dies ; the latter being practically a 
hardened steel nut sawn in half, and fitted so that the two 
halves can be pressed nearer and nearer together as the 
screw thread becomes deeper. The dies are screwed up 
by means of a thumbscrew opposite to the handle. 



A SCREW-BOX. 20I 

To use it, a piece of iron is filed up or turned to the 
required size, which must be exactly that of the finished 
screw. The dies are then loosened and slipped on to the 
end of this screw-blank as it is called, and are then slightly- 
tightened upon it. All that is now required is to keep 
turning the tool round and round upon the pin, which it 
will soon cut into a screw thread. When the stock is at 
the bottom or top, you may tighten the dies, and so work 
up or down ; but never tighten them in any other part. If 
iron or steel is to be cut, use oil with the tool, but brass 
may be dry. If the screw is of steel, heat it red-hot and 
let it cool very gradually, to make it as soft as possible. 

The hole or nut, into which the screw is to fit, is to be 
drilled so as just to allow the taper tap to enter about a 
couple of threads ; a wrench, or, if small, a hand-vice is 
then applied to twist it forcibly into the hole, when the 
thread will be completed. Take great care to hold the tap 
upright, or else, if it is a screw with a flat head which has 
to fit into it, it will not lie correctly, but one side of the 
head will touch while the other is more or less raised. 

There are other modes of screw cutting, but at present I 
need only mention one, which is used for wooden screws 
alone. It is called a screw-box, and is only made to cut 
one size, a tap being always sold to match. You can, how- 
ever, purchase any size you like, from a quarter of an inch 
to 2 or 3 inches ? but the latter are only intended for very 



902 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



large screws, sucli as are used for carpenters' benches and 
various kinds of presses. A screw-box looks like a small 
block of wood with a hole in it, but if you take out two 
screws you will find a blade of a peculiar shape, which 
forms the thread by cutting the wood as it is screwed inro 
the hole in the box. 




Chapter )i\. 



HARD-WOOD TURNING. 




E now discard almost entirely tlie gouge and 
chisel used for soft woods, and fall back upon 
an entirely different set of tools, similar to those 
used for metal, but ground to rather more acute 
angles. These tools are held horizontally upon the rest, 
because depressing the handles causes the bevel below the 
edge to rub upon the work ; and in addition, the gi-ain of 
hard foreign woods is such that it cannot well be cut by 
placing the tool at a more acute angle, as would theoreti- 
cally be required. Hence we can only regard these as 
scraping tools ; but as such they will do excellent work in 
skilful hands. I have said that we discard the gouge, but 
there are some woods that will bear this tool, to take off the 
roughest parts of the work, before the application of others. 
The roughing-tool, however, may now be considered to be 
the point-tool, and the round-end tool, or " round " as it is 



204 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

often called; a narrow one makes a good tool for this 
purpose. 

Hard wood is easier on tlie wliole to work tlian soft, 
because we have for the purpose a large stock of tools ol 
all . shapes, suitable to the various mouldings required. 
Hollows, round-beading tools, compound and simple 
moulding tools of various sizes, to say nothing of those 
which are made for use with ornamental apparatus, such 
as are required for fluting, beading, and eccentric work, 
spirals, and so forth. It is indeed in hard wood that most 
amateurs are accustomed to work ; ebony and ivory, 
singly or in combination, being more extensively used 
than any other. 

To turn a cylinder, or any work requiring to be held at 
both ends, you will invariably find the cross-chuck the best 
to use, — the fork or prong not taking hold in the hard 
material. Rough down to shape as before, using the gouge 
if it will work, but keeping the rest as close as possible, 
and only taking a light cut. Then finish roughing with a 
round-tool, and proceed generally as in soft wood turning, 
except inasmuch as you have to scrape instead of cutting 
the work into form. 

In addition to the tools already described, you will have 
to obtain a few beading-tools, if you want to do very good 
work, for these give far more beautiful mouldings than you 
can cut in any other manner. Fig. 53, A to C, represent 



SIDE-PARTING TOOL 205 



these. The bevel is on the under side, and it is better to 
interfere with it as little as possible, by always sharpening 
the flat face only. If it should be necessary^ however, to 
touch the bevil, it must be rubbed by a slip of oilstone, 
rounded on the edge, as used for sharpening gouges. 
Conical grinders, revolving in the lathe, are also used, 
especially for small beading-tools, to be fixed in the slide- 
rest. In the same figure, D and E represent another useful 
hard-wood and ivory tool. It is called the side-parting 
tool ; and it is usual to have several of these, the hooks 
increasing in length. The edge is only on the extreme end 
of the hook. These tools are used for economy's sake to 
cut solid blocks of ivory and hard-wood from the inside of 
boxes, instead of cutting the material into a heap of useless 
shavings. Similar tools, G, H, curved instead of rectan- 
gular, serve to cut out a solid piece from the inside of 2 
howl. In ivory work it is essential to use these tools, 
because such material is very costly ; $2.50 a lb., and up- 
wards, being a common price. 

K is given to show what are meant by headings. If 
these are exactly semicircular in section, they are far 
more beautiful in appearance than if of such curves as can 
be roughly cut by a chisel. The bead-tools are beautifully 
formed for this very purpose. To use the same side-parting 
tool, you must proceed as follows, which j^ou will under- 
stand by the fig. L : — A common straight parting -tool or 



206 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 




THE RING-TOOL. 207 

narrow chisel is first applied to the face of the work to cut 
a deep circular groove or channel, as shown by the white 
space at N, and in section at L. This allows the narrowest 
of the hooked tools to b6 applied to under-cut the solid core 
X. This being withdrawn, a rather longer hook is applied, 
the hook being held downwards as at 0, until it reaches 
the spot where it is to work, when it is gradually turned 
up (bevel below). Eventually, it is plain that the solid 
core or centre block x will fall out entire, which may be 
used for other purposes. M shows how a similar but 
curved block can be removed from the inside of a 
cup or bowl, the curved tool not requiring an entry to be 
made for it, as it cuts its own way entirely from first to 
last. 

P and Q show a ring-tool and the method of using it. 
A recess is turned in the face of a piece of wood as il 
it was intended to hollow out a box. The ring-tool is 
then applied bevel downwards, and with the left cutting 
edge a bead is cut half-through from the inside. The 
right edge is then applied to the outside, and when the 
cuts meet the ring neatly finished, will fall ofi". With this 
tool you can turn them very rapidly, and they will require 
only a rub of sand-paper to finish them. 

R, S, T are three more tools for hard wood. The first 
two cut on the outside of the curved part all round. Thess 
would be used to hollow out humming-tops and all similar 



2o8 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

articles, and to finish the insides of howls, for which T is 
also designed. Indeed, I might go on to describe all pos- 
sible shapes of curved tools, each intended for some special 
work ; but you will not do better than to go to Fenn, Buck, 
or any tool-maker in London, or elsewhere, and pick out at 
7s., or so, per dozen, all shapes and sizes, or if you live at 
a distance and write to either of the above, they will select 
you the most useful ; and you can trust these tradesmen 
and all first-class ones to send you no tools which are not 
of the best quality. 

In finishing best work in hard wood, be very careful of 
all sharp edges of mouldings. Sand and glass paper round 
off these, and spoil the beauty of the work. If you are 
obliged to use such substances, touch off again the edges 
with .very keen tools, which ought to leave brighter and 
more beautiful surfaces than any sand-paper can produce. 
Indeed, the secret oi finished ^ov'k in hard wood is to have 
tools whose edges and bevels are polished. In ornamental 
eccentric and rose-engine turning, where to use sand-paper 
would be to ruin the appearance of it, the little drills and 
cutters pass through three stages of sharpening, being 
ground on the oilstone, finished on a slab of brass, fed with 
oil and oilstone powder, and polished on a slab of iron with 
oil alone or oil and rouge. After this every cut that is made 
with them reflects the light; and as the surface is otherwise 
purposelv srrailed or dulled by cutting a series of fine light 



TURNING IN METALS. 209 

rings with a point tool, the pattern itself shows out clearly 
and lustrously. 

TUENING BRASS AND OTHER METALS, 

I shall now teach you how to turn iron and brass, which, 
though harder than wood, are not very difficult to cut, if 
you go to work in a proper manner and understand how to 
use your tools. What these are like I have already told 
you, and also how to mount a bar in the lathe by using the 
driver or point-chuck with a carrier. If the piece to be 
turned is not a bar, you will have to drive it into a chuck 
of wood, or clamp it upon a face-plate, or in a self-centring 
chuck if you have one. 

I shall suppose, first of all, a mere straight bar of iron, 
centred at the ends, as I have shown you. Take off the lathe- 
cord that you use for wood, and fit one to go upon the largest 
part of the mandrel pulley, and the smallest upon the fly- 
wheel. When you now put your foot upon the treadle to work 
at your usual speed, you will find the mandrel turn quite 
slowly ; but I may at once tell you, that what you lose in 
speed you gain in power. Set your rest for iron (which is 
not that used for wood, but one with a broad, flat top) so 
that it stands a little below the central line of the lathe 
mandrel and work, which will bring the edge of the tool 
exactly wpon that line. This is always the position of the 

tool for metal-turning, at any rate for iron. 

O 



2 10 2 HE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

Beo^in by trimming the end of the bar next to the back 
centre. Use a graver, held as I directed you; that is, with 
the bevel flat upon the^a^^ of the iron, which is in this case 
the end of it. Only let the point cut, and a very little of 
the edge beyond it, and do not expect to take a deep cut so 
as to bring off a thick shaving. In metal work you will 
always have to proceed slowly, but nothing is more pleasant 
when once you can do it well. 

You will at first have to experimentalise a little as to the 
exact angle at which to hold the tool, but you will soon find 
out this ; and the advantage of hand-tools is, that you can 
always feel as well as see how they are working, and can 
ease them here and there to suit the material. It is rather 
difficult at first to hold the tool still in metal-working, but, 
like all else, it becomes easy by practice ; so much so, that 
to hold the tool steadily in one hand is not only possible, but 
is the mode always followed by watchmakers. While you are 
about it, you should turn the graver over and try it in other 
positions ; for although the two sides of the bevel nearest to 
the point are the only ones to be used, these may be applied 
in either direction, because they are both sharpened to angles 
of 60°, and so long as you present them at the correct angle 
(the smallest possible in respect of the work), it matters not 
which face of the tool lies uppermost. After squaring off 
one end, the approved plan is to remove the carrier, reverse 
the bar, and do the same to the other end. Then begin to 



TURNING IN METALS. 



turn from the right hand. Place the graver as before, with 
the point overlapping the end very slightly (so as only to 
use the extremity of the cutting edge close to the point), 
and take off a light shaving along the bar for a distance 
of about half an inch, or even a quarter, keeping the edge 
of the graver which is on the rest in one position, and 
moving the tool, not by sliding it along the rest, but by 
using the point upon which it lies as a pivot. It is very 
difficult to describe this exactly, but Fig. 52, 0, will help to 
explain it. The tool is to rest upon one spot, and the point 
to move in short curves like the dotted lines, being shifted 
to a new position as you feel it get out of cut. The left 
hand should grasp the blade and hold it tightly down upon 
the rest, while the right moves the handle to and fro as 
required. The curved dotted lines are necessarily ex- 
aggerated, but the principle of the work is this, whether 
you use a graver or a heel-tool. You should turn about 
half an inch quite round, and then go on to the next, by 
which you will always have a little shoulder upon the work 
for the tool to start upon, and this will be nice, clean, bright 
metal, and will not blunt the tool. But if you go to work 
differently, so that the edge of the tool comes continually 
in contact with the rough outside of the iron caused by 
the heat of the fire, and which is exceedingly hard, the 
point of the tool will be quickly ground down, while the 
iron will not be cut into at all. 



212 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

I need tell you no more about turning a bar of iron in 
the lathe, because the above directions apply in all cases ; 
but if you have to turn ^\Q,face of a piece of metal that is 
carried in a chuck of some kind, you should always work 
from the middle towards the edge, and if the graver is 
used, its bevelled face will lie towards you during the pro- 
cess. Take care to chuck the metal very firmly, for it is 
most annoying to have it suddenly leave the chuck or shift 
its position after you have been at the trouble of turning 
part of it truly. In such case it is very difficult to replace 
it exactly as it was before, and all your work has in con- 
sequence to be gone over again. When taking the final 
cut, or before, if you like, dip the end of the tool into water, 
or soap and water, and see the effect. The surface turned 
in this way will be highly polished at once, and the tool 
will cut with much greater ease, so that a large, clean 
shaving will come off. When using a slide-rest, you will 
find it always better to keep water just dripping upon the 
work and point of the tool ; but there is a drawback, never- 
theless, to this plan, for, as might be expected, it makes a 
mess and rusts the lathe, and sometimes the work as well, 
so the water must be constantly wiped off it. 

THE SLIDE-REST. 

I shall now pass on to describe a mechanical arrangement 
called a slide-rest, of which there are two separate and dis- 



THE SLIDE-REST. 213 

tinct forms, one for metal and one for ornamental turning 
in ivory and hard wood. The ornamental work that can 
be done 1 shall pass by for the present, because few boys 
are provided with the costly apparatus required, and I am 
rather addressing those young mechanics whose tastes in- 
cline them to model machinery and to practise the various 
operations of mechanical engineering on a small scale. To 
such a slide-rest is an almost necessary addition to the lathe, 
for there is a great deal of work which, I may say, cannot 
be done without it ; for instance, boring the cylinders of 
engines (except small ones of brass), turning the piston- 
rods and various pieces which require to be accurately 
cylindrical and of equal size, perhaps for the length of a 
foot or more. Hand-work has accomplished something in 
this way in olden days, but the inability of workmen to 
advance beyond a certain standard of perfection with hand- 
tools alone, became such a hindrance to the manufacture of 
the steam-engine, as improved by Watt and others, that 
had not Maudsley, Naysmith, and others developed the 
principle of the slide-rest and planing machine, we should 
not yet have lived to see those gigantic engines which tear 
along like demon horses with breath of fire, at the rate of 
eixty miles or more in as many minutes. So likewise ' 
would various other machines, which now appear absolutely 
necessary to supply our various wants, have stood in their 
primitive and imperfectly developed forms ; for it is necessary, 



214 THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

before constructing a machine, to have the means of turning 
cylindrical parts truly, and producing perfectly level plates 
where required. 

The object of a slide-rest is to provide means for holding 
a tool firmly, and giving it a power to traverse to and fra 
and from side to side, so that by the first we may be able 
to cause such tool to approach or recede from the work, 
and by the second we may cause it to move in a perfectly 
straight line along its surface from end to end. This is 
accomplished in the following manner : — The drawing 
being a representation of one of the first machines con- 
structed for the purpose. A rectangular frame, A, of iron 
is carried by a pair of strong uprights, B B, fixed to the 
sole-j^late, C, by which it is attached by a bolt to the bed 
of the lathe. Lengthwise of this frame runs a screw, pre- 
vented by collars from moving endwise, but which can be 
turned round by the winch-handle, D. Thus a nut through 
which this screw passes, and which only has endwise 
motion, will, when the latter is turned by its handle, 
traverse it from end to end in either direction, ac 
cording as the screw may be turned from right to 
left or the contrary. This nut is attached to the under 
part of a sliding-plate, E, which has a part projecting 
between the sides of the frame, and also two others on its 
outside, by which it grasps the same with great accuracy, 
and is prevented from any shake or play as the whole 



THE SLIDE-REST. 215 

witli the nut is made to traverse to and fro along the 
frame. 

Lengthwise of this sliding-plate, that is, in a direction 
the opposite to that of its own traverse, are two bars bevelled 
underneath, fixed exactly parallel to each other, which are 
so arranged to guide the cross traverse of another plate 
with chamfered edges to fit the bevels of the guide bars. 
This second plate has on its upper surface two clamps 
which secure the tool. It is plain, then, that by this ar- 
rangement the two required movements are attained, the 
lower plate sliding along in one direction parallel witli the 
lathe-bed, and the other across it. In the original rests, 
this upper plate with the tool was moved by hand, and in 
the modern rest for ornamental turning (which this was 
also constructed for) the same is done, but a hand-lever is 
added for the purpose. 

But although a similar arrangement is needed for metal, it 
is plain that the top plate should have a more easily regulated 
motion, and that we should be able to advance the tool as 
near the work as may be desired, and then to retain it 
securely at that distance while giving the necessary move 
ment in the direction of the length of the object to be turned. 
The method of efiecting this is at once suggested by the 
screw and nut of the lower part, and by merely adding to 
the top a similar arrangement, the desired end is at once 
attained. 



2l6 



7 HE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



The actual construction of sucli rest varies somewliat, 
but Fig. 54, H, shows it in its most ordinary form. The 
lower part is, of course, to be clamped down securely to the 




rig. 64. 

lathe-hed, there being a projection below which is made to 
fit accurately between the bearers similar to that beneath 
the poppits. This projection secures the correct position 
of the rest, of which one frame or plate will travel length 



THE SLIDE-REST. 217 



wise of the bed, while the other will move exactly at right 
angles to it. Bat in the compound slide-rest, which is very 
general, there is also a third circular motion, by which the 
upper part can be set at any angle with the lower, instead of 
being permanently fixed at right angles to it. By this the 
tool can be made to approach the work more and more as 
it passes along it ; and it will therefore cut deeper at one 
end of its traverse than at the other. The result will be 
that what is thus turned will not be a true cylinder, but a 
cone, i.e.^ it will be larger at one end than the other, 
although otherwise smooth and even. 

We are thus provided with the most valuable addition to 
the lathe ever devised by mechanics, and it is no longer a 
question of the strength and skill of the workman whether 
we can produce a perfect piece of work, but simply of the 
accuracy with which the lathe and rest are constructed, and 
of the form and condition of the tools to be used. The latter 
are not exactly like those ordinarily used, although the 
principle of the cutting angles already laid down needs to 
be adhered to even with more unfailing attention than that 
required for the correct formation of hand-tools. Moreover, it 
is plain that — here we shall no longer feel whether the tool 
is working as it ought to do — we shall be unconscious of 
the precise amount of strain that is being brought to bear 
against its edge, and if it is by chance working in a bad 
position, at a wrong angle, we cannot re-adjust it in a 



2i8 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

moment as we could a hand-tool by a slight movement of 
the fingers or wrist. 

Hence you will see at once how very important it is that 
tools for the slide-rest should be shaped with the most rigid 
adherence to correct principles ; and, further, that they 
should be so fixed in the slide-rest as to meet the work at 
the precise angle, and at the height exactly suited to the 
material of which it is composed. As regards the latter 
point, it may be taken as an almost invariable rule that the 
work should be attacked on its axial line (that is, a line 
that would run from end to end of it dividing it lengthwise 
into equal parts, or, as it would commonly be named, its 
middle line). If the tool meets it above this, it is most 
likely that it will rub against it, and the point will be out 
of cut. If it meets it below, there will be a tendency for 
the point to catch in, and the work to roll up upon the face 
of the tool, which, in fact, it very often does with careless 
workmen, and then there comes a smash of some kind — 
lathe centres snapped off, the tool broken, the bar bent 
beyond remedy, and possibly the operator's toes made un- 
pleasantly tender. 

The most common slide-rest tool for outside work is 
that given at H^. It is made straight, as shown, or bent 
sideways to right or left to cut shoulders on the work, or 
enter hollows, or creep sneakingly round corners, or any 
other of those crooked ways in which man delights ; but 



THE SLIDE-REST. 21 g 

wliether straight or not, these tools have all most com- 
monly the cranked form shown here. This gives the tools 
a slight degree of elasticity — not very much, because that 
would only injure the perfection of the work ; therefore 
they are not very considerably cranked. The angles are 
ground as directed in the table of tool-angles, and if the 
point is too low, slips of iron are placed below the shank 
upon the tool-plate of the slide-rest ; if too high, the grind- 
stone must be resorted to; and the advantage of these 
cranked tools is, that they can be ground down several 
times without being brought too low to be packed up with 
iron slips to the right level. Thus a cranked tool is by far 
more advantageous for the slide-rest than one made straight 
like those used for hand-turning. For inside work, how- 
ever, or " holing," the crank form is not possible, unless 
the hole is of large size, and so, for this purpose, straight 
side-tools are used, like K. 

If the tool is well placed, as well as correctly made, 
nothing can be more easy and delightful than slide-rest 
work. You merely advance the tool to take the required 
cut (beginning generally at the right-hand end of the bar), 
and then gently turning the other handle, you will see it 
traverse along, as if work was a pleasure to it, as it ought 
to be to all young mechanics. Not infrequently, however, 
instead of this even, steady work, the tool jumps and 
catches, or rubs and shrieks : it is out of temper, I sup- 



2 20 THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

pose ; at any rate, in some one or more particulars it needs 
correction. 

Although with the slide-rest you can generally venture 
upon taking a deeper cut than you could with hand-tools, 
it is by no means well to hurry the work. At first, 
especially before it has become cylindrical, the tool will 
only cut partly round its surface, and the work is done in 
an uncomfortable, jerking, dissatisfied sort of way, and the 
deeper you drive the tool the worse it is ; but as soon as 
the outer skin is ofi*, and the work has become cylindrical, 
a long, clear, bright shaving curls o£f pleasantly from end to 
end, and the surface ought, if the tool is wetted, to become 
at once of a finished appearance. 

You should always, with a slide-rest, take the whole run 
of the piece from end to end to a certain depth, and then, 
commencing again at the end, repeat the same process, and 
so on until the required size is almost attained. When it 
is, take out the tool with the pointed end which has been 
in use, and insert one freshly sharpened with a broad point, 
getting it so placed as to cut the shaving both from the 
surface below, and from the shoulder to which it is attached 
at the side, as I explained to you in the chapter on grind' 
ing and setting tools, and which must be well understood 
before you can hope to make good work with tools rigidly 
fixed in a slide-rest. With this tool, kept wet with soap 
and water (or soda water, which is better for this than for 



THE SLIDE-REST. 



your stomacli), take a very light shaving from end to end, 
taking especial care to turn the handle which gives the 
traverse slowly and evenly. If you stop, or almost stop, 
the tool will be sure to draw, a little deeper into cut, which 
will make a scratch upon the work, or, it may be, plough 
a groove, and so far spoil the appearance of it. 

Whenever you finish turning any bar that has been 
centred at each end, be careful to leave the centre marks 
just as they were when the work was in the lathe. The 
ends will have been otherwise trimmed off at the very com- 
mencement, and it may happen that at some future day it 
may be desired to re-mount the piece for repair, when, it 
these marks are gone, and new centres have to be drilled, 
the whole will run so much out of truth that it will have to 
be entirely re-turned from the commencement. Do not, 
therefore, fancy that these centre marks are unsightly, and 
forthwith file them out, but be content to leave them. 

Slide-rest tools, made in the ordinary way, are so far 
troublesome in use that if they get broken you must have 
them re-forged, and few country smiths know anything 
about such matters. I have a tool now lying by me made 
by a smith (true, it was a Welsh smith), and although I 
stood by and explained how it should be done, and cut one 
out of a piece of wood, it never arrived at a proper shape, 
and was never even placed upon the rest. I keep it as old 
Izaak Walton kept the Londoner's artificial fly, viz., " to 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



laugh at," and as a caution to all concerned, never to go 
to a country blacksmith for slide-rest tools. The following 
plan answers very well for many kinds of outside work, 
and is on the whole a plan that may be satisfactorily fol- 
lowed by the young mechanic. 

Instead of having the tools constructed from a large bar 
of steel half an inch or so in the square, they are made of 
short pieces about an inch long, fitted into a peculiar 
holder. 

The advantage of this arrangement consists in the ease 
with which you can make your own tools out of broken 
round, triangular, or square pillar files, small chisels and 
such like. These can be shaped by the grindstone alone, 
and the blacksmith will not have to be called into requisi- 
tion. I shall give you two forms of tool-holders, more 
or less simple, because I may suppose my young mechanic 
to be fast growing into an old hand, and able to appreciate 
differences in these arrangements. 

Fig. 55, A, B, represents two of such holders, one for 
round, the other for flat steel cutters. Yon can see at once 
that when these are upon the bed of the rest, they form a 
tool with cranked end, as previously described, and can 
therefore be used in precisely the same manner. I shall 
give no directions for mailing these tool-holders, which are, 
nevertheless, very simple affairs, and can be readily under- 
etood from the drawings here given. 



SLIDE-REST TOOL-HOLDERS. 



223 



Another form is shown at C. The part d e \^ fa clamp, 
which is separately drawn at/. This, like the last, enables 
one to use all sorts of odds and ends for tools. There are 




X 





Fig. 55. 



several other patterns of tool-holders, arranged either to use 
the little pieces of square, round, or triangular steel bars, 
so that one side, at least, of these may remain without 
grinding, and others in which two entirely new faces must 
be given to the tool by the grindstone. The latter are, 
perhaps, generally the best, because you can then, with the 



2 24 ^HE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

*• . — 

aid of the table of tool-angles, shape your cutters very 
accurately to the work required of them. 

Although such tool-holders and cutters are generally 
used for metals, there are others intended for wood ; and 
constructed to hold miniature gouges and chisels, which 
perform their work admirably. A capital tool for outside 
work, Fig. 55, E, which was used extensively at Portsmouth 
dockyard for brass turning, is made simply by filing off at 
an angle of about 45° a round short bar of steel. This 
angle, however, is unusually small for brass and gun-metal, 
80° being better. For iron it will answer better, because 
though filed, or rather ground at 45°, the cutting edge, a 
little way from what may be called the point of the tool, 
is nearer 60°. 

Similar to these last are the tube gouges, short bits of 
steel tube ground off and sharpened. These fixed in a 
holder answer beautifully for soft wood, and do not "catch 
in." If the holder is bent so as to bring the tool into 
proper position, inside work can be rapidly effected by 
these, such as hollowing out large bowls and similar heavy 
work. All this can, of course, be done rapidly with the 
slide-rest, so far as regards the removal of the greater part 
of the wood. But in the case of a bowl, in which a curve 
predominates over a straight line, hand-tools must be used 
to finish it (generally the inside hook-tool). This last is, 
in fact, almost identical with the tube gouge ; for the 



SLIDE-REST, ,25 



slide-rest, and that whicli makes it so difficult a tool to 
use, is that, being a hand-tool, and subject to slight un- 
intentional changes of position upon the part of the work- 
man, it catches in, and is either wrenched out of the hand 
or a piece is chopped off the wood. Rigidly held in the 
Blide-rest, the exact angle, once found, is of course maiu- 
Hiued. 




Chapter XII. 




NOW propose to assist the young mechanic in 
special work, instead of continuing general 
directions. This will enable me to explain to 
him various lathe appliances, and other details 
of mechanical work hitherto passed by. 

Of all models which boys (and very big boys too) are 
desirous to construct, the steam-engine holds the chief 
place, and deservedly so ; for every boy calling himself 
mechauical, ought to know how this is made, and the 
general principles of its construction as well. However, I 
am aware, from experience, that many a youngster, who is 
even in possession of a model engine, is utterly ignorant of 
the cause of its motion; although it is a great delight 
to them to see the steam puffing out, and the wheel 
revolving " nineteen to the dozen," as schoolboys say. 
Now, an engine is a very simple affair, and can be easily 
explained ; and, as I wish my readers to work rationally, 



irOW TO MAKE A STEAM-ENGINE. 227 

I shall show them what they have to do before I tell them 
how to do it. 




/ iir^\ 



Pig 6a. 



A, Fig. 56, represents a cubical yes«el of tin or any 



228 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

other substance. By cubical, I mean that all its sides are 
squares, and all exactly equal ; each side in the present 
case is to be 1 inch wide and long, or a square inch. B is 
a similar vessel, 1 foot cube. It contains, therefore, 1728 
cubic inches, or is 1728 times as large in capacity as the 
first. Now, if I were to fill the little vessel with water and 
tip it into the second, and put a lamp under it, the water 
would all soon boil away, as it is called. It would be 
converted into steam ; and the quantity of steam it would 
produce would exactly fill the larger vessel, without excit- 
ing any particular pressure upon its sides. 

Steam, thus allowed plenty of elbow room, is like a lazy 
boy ; it will play and curl about very prettily, but will do 
no work. "We must put some sort of pressure, therefore, 
upon it — confine it, and we shall soon see that, by strug- 
gling to escape, it will serve our purpose, and become a 
most obedient workman. "We have, therefore, only to put 
double the quantity of water into our larger vessel, that is, 
two cubic inches. We will put on a cover tightly, adding 
a pipe through which to pour in the water. Soon we shall 
have the steam formed as before; but it has no longer room 
enougb, and out it comes fizzing and roaring, very savage 
at having been shut up in so small a cage. And we can 
make it work too, for if we set up a little fan-wheel of tin 
right in its way, we shall see it spin round merrily enough; 
or if we cork tire tube lightly, we shall find this cork soon 



FORCE OF STEAM. 1^29 

come out with a bang. We have, in fact, already con- 
Btriicted a steam-engine and a steam-gun on a small scale. 
The pressure in this case is, indeed, not great, but what it 
is I must now try to explain. 

The air or atmosphere, which surrounds us on all sides, 
exercises a pressure upon everything of 15 lbs. on every 
square inch of surface. If our little cubical inch box of 
tin had no air inside it, and no steam, but was absolutely 
empty, each side, and top, and bottom would have 15 lbs. 
pressure upon it ; which would be evident if it were not 
very strong, for it would sink in on all sides directly, just 
as much as if you were to add a weight of 15 lbs. when it 
was full of air, as it would ordinarily be. 

When I spoke of the larger box being exactly filled 
with steam from the evaporation of the cubic inch of water 
poured from the smaller box, I supposed it empty of air. 
The steam from that quantity of water, occupying the place 
of the air, would also be of the same pressure, 15 lbs. per 
square inch of surface ; and as this only balances the pres- 
sure of the atmosphere, which would be, in such a case, 
pressing in on all sides, the steam would not show any 
pressure : just as, if you put equal weights into each scale of 
a balance, the beam of it would remain horizontal, neither 
scale showing to the outward senses that it had any pres- 
sure upon it. But in the second case, we have doubled the 
quantity of steam, but compelled it to occupy the same 



230 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

space; therefore we have now real, visible pressure of 15 lbs. 
upon each square inch ; and if we again halve the space 
which the steam has to occupy, or double the quantity of 
water, we shall obtain a pressure of 30 lbs. beyond the 
pressure of the atmosphere. 

Let us now disregard atmospheric pressure, and fit up 
such an apparatus as Fig. 56, D. Here we have first our 
small box, closed on all sides, and from it a small tube 
rising and entering into the bottom of a larger one, which is 
very smooth in the inside ; in this is a round plate or disc, 
called a piston, which fits the tube nicely, but not so tight 
as to prevent it from moving up and down easily ; and let 
a weight of 15 lbs. be laid upon it. Let us suppose this 
large tube or cylinder to be 1700 times larger than the 
cubic inch box, into which water is to be poured till full. 
Now we heat it as before, and when 212° of heat are 
attained by the water (which is its boiling-point) when it 
begins to be converted into steam, the piston will be seen 
to rise, and will gradually ascend, until quite at the top of 
the tube, because the steam required exactly that amount 
of room. 

Now we have arrived at the same conclusion which we 
came to before ; for you see that not only has the cubic inch of 
water become a cubic foot of steam {about 1700 to 1 728 of its 
former volume), but it is supporting 15 lbs. weight, which 
represents that of the atmosphere, and if we could get rid 



FORCE OF STEAM. 231 

of the latter, a solid weight of 15 lbs. would be thus sup- 
ported. Now, still neglecting the atmospheric pressure, 
suppose instead of 15 lbs. we add another 15 lbs., making 
the weight 30 lbs., down goes our piston again, and stands 
at about half the height it did before. "We have thus, as we 
had previously, a cubic foot of steam made to occupy half a 
cubic foot of space, giving a pressure (which is the same as 
supporting a weight) of 30 lbs. 

I ought, perhaps, to add in this place, however, that 
under 30 lbs. pressure, or atmospheric weight and 15 lbs. 
additional, the water would not become steam at a tempera- 
ture of 212°, but it would have to be made much hotter, 
until a thermometer placed in it would show 252**. 

So far we have seen what a cubic inch of water will do 
when heated to a certain degree, and at first sight it may 
not seem a great deal. Far from being light work, how- 
ever, this is actually equal to the work of raising a weight 
of 1 ton a foot high. Let us prove the fact. Suppose the 
tube or cylinder to be square instead of round, and that 
its surface is exactly 1 square inch, how can we give 1700 
times the room which is occupied by the water ? It is plain 
that the piston must rise 1700 inches in the 1-inch cylinder 
or tube, carrying with it, as before, its weight of 15 lbs. — 
that is, it has raised 15 lbs. 1700 inches, or about 142^^^^. 
But this is the same as 15. times 142 feet raised 1 foot, 
which, is 2130 lbs. raised 1 foot, very nearly a ton, the latter 



232 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

being 2240 lbs. So, after all, you see that our little cubic 
inch of water is a very good labourer, doing a great deal ol 
work if we supply him with suflScient warmth. 

Now this is exactly the principle of the ordinary steam- 
engine : we have a cylinder in which a piston is very nicely 
fitted, and we put this cylinder in connection with a boiler, 
the steam from which drives the piston from one end of the 
cylinder to the other. In the first engine that was made, 
the cylinder actually occupied the very position it does in 
our sketch ; it was made to stand upon the top of the boiler, 
a tap being added in the short pipe below the cylinder, so 
that the steam could be admitted or shut off at pleasure. 
But it is plain that although our little engine has done some 
work, it has stopped at a certain point ; there is the piston 
at the top, and it cannot go any farther ; we must get it 
down again before it can repeat its labour. 

How would you do this, boys ? Push it down, eh ? If you 
did, you would find it spring up again when you removed 
your hand, just as if there were underneath it a coiled steel 
spring ; by which, however, you would learn practically 
what is meant by the elasticity of steam. Besides this, if 
you push it down, you become the workman, and the engine 
is only the passive recipient of your own labour. Try 
another plan ; remove the lamp, and see the result — 
gradually, very gradually, the. piston begins to des(;end. 

Take a squirt or syringe, and squirt cold water against 



THE FIRST ENGINE CONSTRUCTED. 233 

the apparatus. Presto! down it goes, now very quickly iu- 
deecl, and is soon at the bottom of the cylinder. But we 
may as well try to get useful work done by the descent of 
the piston as well as by its ascent. 

Set it up like Fig. 5G, E. Here is a rod or beam, h a c^ 
the middle of which is supported like that of a pair of 
scales. From one end we hang a scale, and place in it 15 
lbs. ; and as the piston sinks the weight is raised, and exactly 
the same work is done as before. Thus was the first engine 
constructed; but instead of the scale-pan and weight, a 
pump-rod was attached, and as the piston descended in the 
cylinder this rod was raised, and the water drawn from the 
well. This, however, was not called a steam-engine, because 
the work is not really the effect of the steam, which is only 
used to produce what is called a vacuum (2.^., an empty 
space, devoid of air) under the piston. In fact, the up-stroke 
of the piston was only partly caused by steam, and the rod 
of the pump was weighted, which helped to draw it up. 

I must get you to understand this clearly, so that the 
principle may become plain — " clear as mud," as Paddy 
would say. I told you that the air pressed on every square 
inch of surface with a force of about 15 lbs. "We do not 
feel it, because we are equally pressed on all sides — from 
within as well as from without — so that atmospheric pres- 
sure is balanced. Sometimes this is a very good thing. 
We should, I think, hardly like to carry about the huge 



234 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

weight pressing upon our shoulders, if something did not 
counteract it for us, so that we cannot feel it. Indeed, if 
it were otherwise, we should become flat as pancakes in no 
time — ''totally chawed up.'* 

But sometimes we should prefer to get rid of the ait 
altogether — and I can tell you it is not easy to do so, unless 
we put something into its place; and we want perhaps 
simply to get rid of it, and make use of the room it occu- 
pied. We require to do this in the present instance, and 
in fact we have just done it. If the whole space below the 
piston, when we begin to work, is filled with water, it is 
plain there can be no air below it ; and when the steam has 
raised it, there is still no air below it, but only steam. 
We then apply cold to the cylinder by removing the lamp 
and squirting cold water against it, which has the effect of 
reducing the steam to water again, which will occupy 1 
inch of space only. We, therefore, now have a space of 
1600 cubic inches with neither air nor water in it; and 
so, if the piston is 1 inch in size, there will be the 15 lb. 
pressure of the atmosphere upon it, and nothing below to 
balance it, for we have formed a vacuum below it, and of 
course this 15 lb. weight will press it rapidly down. It did 
so; and we therefore were enabled to raise 15 lb. in the 
scale-pan. You will know, therefore, henceforth, exactly 
what I mean by a vacuum and atmospheric pressure. It is, 
you see, the latter which does the work when a vacuum is 



ATMOSPHERIC ENGINE. 235 

formed as above; but you can easily understand that it 
might be possible to use both the atmospheric pressure and 
the pressure of steam as well, which is done in the con- 
densing steam-engine. 

In the earliest engine, called the Atmospheric for the 
reason above stated, the top of the cylinder was left entirely 
open, as in our sketch; but the condensing water was 
not applied outside the cylinder, but descended from a 
cistern above, and formed a little jet or fountain in the 
bottom of the cylinder at the very moment that the piston 
reached its highest point. Down it, therefore, came, draw- 
ing up the pump-rod. When at the bottom the jet of 
water ceased. Steam was again formed below the piston, 
which raised it as before ; and the process being repeated, 
the required work was done. A boy, to turn a couple of 
taps, to let on or off the water or steam, was all the attend- 
ance required. 

For some time the atmospheric engine, the invention of 
Newcomen, was the only one in general use ; and even this 
was, in those days (1705-1720), so difficult to construct 
that its great power was comparatively f eldom resorted to, 
even for pumping, for which it was nevertheless admu'ably 
suited. The huge cylinder required to be accurately bored, 
while there were no adequate means of doing such work ; 
and although the piston was " packed," by being wound 
round with hemp, it was difficult to keep it sufficiently 



«36 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

tight, yet at the same time to give it adequate " play.'* 
Then, another drawback appeared, which, though of less 
importance in some districts, absolutely prevented the 
introduction of this engine into many parts of tbe country. 
The consumption of coal was enormous in proportion to 
tlie power gained. "We can easily understand the reason oi 
this, when we consider the means used for producing a 
vacuum in the cylinder below tlie piston. The Water intro- 
duced for the purpose, chilled, not only the steam, but 
cylinder and piston also ; and therefore, before a second 
stroke could be made, these had to be again heated to the 
temperature of boiling water. The coal required for the 
latter purpose was therefore wasted, causing a dead loss to 
the proprietor. 

So matters continued for some time, until a mathematical 
instrument-maker of Glasgow, named Watt, about the year 
1760, began to turn his attention to the subject ; and having 
to repair a model of Newcomen's engine belonging to the 
University of Griasgow, the idea seems to have first struck 
him of condensing the steam in a separate vessel, so as to 
avoid cooling the cylinder after each upward stroke of the 
piston. This was the grand secret which gave the first 
impetus to the use of steam-engines ; and from that day to 
this these mighty workmen, whose muscles and sinews 
never become weary, have been gradually attaining perfec- 
tion. Yet it may be fairly stated that the most modern 



JAMES WATT'S INVENTION. 237 

form of condensing engine in nse is but an improyement 
upon Watt's in details of construction and accuracy of 
workmanship. For Watt did not stand still in his work ; 
but after having devised a separate condenser, he further 
suggested the idea of closing the top of the cylinder, which 
had hitherto been left open to the influence of the atmos- 
phere; and rejecting the latter as the means of giving 
motion to the piston, he made use of the expansive power 
of steam on each side of the piston alternately, while a 
vacuum was also alternately produced on either side of it 
by the condensation of the steam. 

The atmospheric engine was thus wholly displaced. 
The saving of fuel in the working of the machine was so 
great, that the stipulation of the inventor, that one-third 
of the money so saved should be his, raised him from 
comparative poverty to affluence in a very short time. 
Watt, however, had still to contend with great difficulties 
in the actual construction of his engines. He was in the 
same "fix" as some of my young readers, who are very 
desirous to make some small model, but have little else 
than a pocket-knife and gimblet to do it with. For there 
were no large steam-lathes, slide-rests, planing and boring 
machines, procurable in those days, and even the heaviest 
work had to be done by hand, if indeed those can be called 
hand-tools which had frequently to be sat upon to keep 
them up to cut. It was therefore impossible for Watt to 



238 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



carry out his designs with anything like accuracy of work- 
manship, else it is probable that he would have advanced 
the steam-engine even further towards perfection than he 
did. In spite of these drawbacks, however, this great 
inventor lived to see his merits universally acknowledged, 
and to witness the actual working of very many of these 
wonderful and useful machines. 

The first necessity which occurred from closing the 
cylinder at both ends was the devising some means to 
allow the piston-rod to pass and repass through one end 
without permitting the steam to escape. This was effected 
by a stuffing-box, which is represented in Fig. 57, A, B, — 
the first being a sectional drawing, which you must learn 
to understand, as it is the only way to show the working 
details of any piece of machinery. We have here a 
cylinder cover, a, which bolts firmly to the top of the 
cylinder, there being a similar one (generally without any 
stuffing-box) at the other end or bottom of the same. On 
the top of this you will observe another piece, which is 
marked h, and which is indeed part of the first and cast in 
one piece with it. Through the cylinder cover, a, is bored 
a hole of the exact size of the rod attached to the piston, 
which has to pass through it, but which hole, however well 
made, would allow the steam to leak considerably during 
the working of the piston-rod. 

To obviate this, the part h is bored out larger, and has 



THE STUFFING-BOX. 



239 



a cnp-sliaped cavity formed in it, as you will see by in- 
specting tlie drawings. Into this cavity fits the gland, c, 
which also has a hole in it, to allow of the passage of ^o. 
piston-rod. This gland is made to fit into the cavity in h 




Fig. 57. 



as accurately as possible ; and it can be held by bolts as in 
the fig. A, or be screwed on the surface as shown at B, in 
which latter case the greater part of the interior of b is 
screwed with a similar thread. The piston-rod being in 
place, hemp is wound round it (or india-rubber packing- 



240 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

rings are fitted over it), and the gland is tlien fitted in 
upon it, and screwed down, thus squeezing the hemp or 
rubber tightly, and compelling it to embrace the piston- 
rod so closely, that leakage of steam is wholly prevented. 
Whenever you have, therefore, to prevent steam or water 
escaping round a similar moving-rod in modelling pumps 
or engines, you will have to effect it in this way. The 
piston was also packed with hemp or tow, either loosely- 
plaited or simply wound round the metal in a groove 
formed for the purpose. In Fig. 57, C and D, I have 
added drawings of a piston, so made, partly for the purpose 
of again explaining the nature of sectional drawings. In 
this one, C, you are shown the end of the piston-rod 
passing through the piston, and fastened by a screwed nut 
below, a shoulder preventing the rod from being drawn 
through by the iction of this nut. The hemp packing is 
also shown \\. section, but in the drawing D the groove is 
left for the sake of clearness. 

In all your smaller models you will have to pack your 
piston in this way, except in those where you entirely 
give np all idea of jpower. The little engines, for example, 
sold at $1 and upwards, with oscillating cylinders, have 
neither packed pistons nor stuffing-boxes; the friction of 
those would stop them, and escape of steam is of no great 
consequence. It will, however, be found advantageous to 
turn a few shallow grooves round these unpacked pistons 



NE WCOMEN 'S ENGINE, 24 . 

after they have been made to fit their cylinders as accu- 
rately as possible, like fig. C. These fill with water from 
the condensation of steam, which always occurs at first 
until the engine gets hot ; and thus a kind of packing is 
made which is fairly effectual. 

In Fig. 58 I have given a drawing of Newcomen's 
engine, in case you would like to make a model of one ; 
but I do not think it will repay you as well for your labour 
as some others. There is the difficulty of the cistern of 
cold water and the waste- well ; and the condensation of the 
steam is a troublesome affair in a small model , so that, on 
the whole, I should not recommend you to begin your 
attempts at model-making with the construction of one 
of these. I shall, however, add a few directions for this 
work, because what I have to say about boring, screwing, 
and so forth, will apply to all other models you may desire 
to construct. 

The cylinder, in this case, will be more easily made by 
obtaining a piece of brass tubing, which can be had of any 
size, from 3 or 4 inches diameter to the size of a small quill. 
The first you will often use for boilers, the latter for steam 
or water pipes. You can also obtain at the model makers — 
Bateman, for instance, of High Holborn — small taps and 
screws, and cocks for the admission of water and steam, 
and all kinds of little requisites which you would find 
great difficulty in making, and which would cost you more 




:|'- y '///. '////// • - '-''. : O. 




■ -■--: >( y /'/'////.'.' ■.'/ ///.'//y -yy/,: 




y////7TTY//////////////////77yy 



HOJF TO MAKE A BOILER, 243 

in spoiling and muddling tlian you would spend in buying 
them ready made. 

The drawing is given on purpose to show the best and 
easiest arrangement for a model. It has all parts, there- 
fore, arranged with a view to simplicity. A is the boiler 
made of a piece of 3-inch brass tubing, as far as a, 5, c, «?, 
the bottom being either of brass or copper at the level ot 
a, h ; the upper domed part may be made by hammering 
a piece of sheet brass, copper, or even tin, with a round- 
ended boxwood mallet upon a hollowed boxwood block, of 
which T, T is a section. You should make one of these if 
it is your intention to make models your hobby, as it will 
enable you to do several jobs of the same kind as the pre- 
sent. Probably you will not be able to make the dome semi- 
circular, or rather hemispherical ; but at all events, make it 
as deeply cupped as you can — after which, turn down the 
extreme edge one-sixteenth of an inch all round to fit the 
cupped part exactly. This requh-es a good deal of care and 
some skill. If you find that you cannot manage it, make 
your boiler with a flat top instead. Whichever way you 
make it, a very good joint to connect the parts is that 
shown in section at V.* The edge of the lower part is 
turned outwards all round ; that of the upper part is also 
turned outwards, first of all to double the width of the 
other, and is then bent over again, first with a pair of pliers 

* The parts so jointed are highly exaggerated ; when hammered down, the 
joint only forms a light beading. 



244 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



and afterwards with a hammer, a hlock or support being 
placed underneath it. All this is done by the manufac- 
turer with a stamping machine on purpose, and would be 
completed by the Birmingham brass-workers before I could 
write the description. It can, however, be done without 
any more toals than shown. 

You will often need a tinman's boxwood mallet with one 
rounded end and one flat one, which, of course, you can now 
turn for yourself, as it is an easy bit of work. With the 
rounded end you can cup any round piece of tin ; but it 
requires gentle work ; do it gradually by hammering the 
centre more than the edges. I will show you presently how 
to do similar work by spinning in the lathe, which is a 
curious but tolerably easy method of making hollow articles 
of many kinds from round discs of metal without any seam. 

After you have hammered the joint of the upper and 
middle parts together, you must solder them all round with 
tinman's solder. For this purpose you require a soldering- 
iron represented at W. This is a rod of iron, flattened and 
split at the end, holding between the forked part a piece of 
copper, which is secured to the iron by rivets. I should not 
recommend a heavy one, not so heavy nearly as what you 
may see at any blacksmith's or tinman's shop, because your 
work will be generally l-ight, and such irons are all top heavy 
to use. The end, which may be curved over as shown, will 
require to be tinned^ for without this it will not work al all 



THE ART OF SOLDERING. 245 

well. File the end bright, and heat it in the fire nearly red 
hot. Get a common brick, and with an old knife or anything 
else, make a hollow place in it — a kind of long-cupped recess 
like a mussel shell, if you know what that is, and put a little 
rosin into it. Take your iron from the fire, and holding it 
down close to the brick, touch it with a strip of -solder, which 
will melt and run into the cavity. Now rub the iron well in 
the solder and rosin, rub it pretty hard upon the brick, and 
presently you will see it covered with bright solder, from 
which wipe what remains in drops with a piece of tow. 
The iron is now fit for immediate use ; but remember, the 
first time you heat it red-hot, you will burn off the tinning, 
and you must file it bright again, and repeat the process. 
So when you want to solder, heat the iron in a clean fire, 
until, when you hold it a foot from your nose, you find it 
pretty warm; and avoid a red heat. You will now find 
that when the soldering-iron is hot, it will not only melt 
but pick up the drop of solder ; and as you draw it slowly 
along a joint (previously sprinkled with powdered rosin, or 
wetted with chloride of zinc, or with Baker's soldering 
fluid), the solder will gradually leave the iron, and attach 
itself to the work in a thinly-spread, even coat. 

The secret of soldering is to have the iron well-heated, 
and wiped clean with a bit of tow, and to apply it along 
the joint so slowly and steadily that the tin or other metal 
will become hot enough just to melt solder. Try to solder, 



246 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



for instance, a thick lump of brass ; file it bright if at all 
tarnished — for this must invariably be done with all metals. 
You will be unable to do it at first, for the moment the 
solder touches it, it will be chilled, and rest in lumps, which 
you can knock off directly when cold. Now place the brass 
on the fire for a few seconds until hot, and try again ; the 
solder will flow readily as the iron passes along it, for it is 
kept up to the melting-point until it has fairly adhered. 
This is why in heavy work a large iron is required ; it 
retains heat longer, and imparts more of it to the metal to 
be soldered. But you will find it often better to use a light 
soldering-iron, and to place the brass-casting upon the bar 
of the grate for a short time. You may, indeed, often work 
without any soldering-iron as follows : — 

Heat the pieces to be soldered (suppose them castings 
and not thin sheets of metal) until they will melt solder. 
Take a stick of the latter, and just dip it in one of the solder- 
ing solutions named, and rub it upon the work previously 
brightened. The solder will adhere to both such pieces. 
Now, while still hot, put them together and screw in a vice, 
or keep them pinched in any way for a few minutes, and 
you will find them perfectly secured. In making chucks 
for the lathe, and in forming many parts of your models, 
you will find it advantageous to work in this way ; but, 
notwithstanding, you will often require a light soldering- 
iron, and sometimes also a blowpipe, which I shall likewise 



THE STOP-COCK. 247 



teacli you to use, as also how to make a neat little fire-place 
or furnace to stand on your bencli by which to heat the iron. 

I must now suppose that you have carefully soldered the 
dome to the middle of your boiler ; and as the solder will 
be underneath, the joint will be concealed even if (as is 
likely) you should not have made a very neat piece of work. 
Before you put on the bottom of the boiler, you will have 
to make two holes in the top — one for the steam-pipe 
three-eighths of an inch in diameter, the other for the 
safety-valve also three-eighths — because this will require a 
plug of brass to be soldered in, which plug will have a hole 
drilled through it of a quarter of an inch diameter. These 
may be punched through from the inside, or drilled ; they are 
easily made, but should be as round and even as possible. 

Take a piece of three-eighths-inch tubing, with a stop- 
cock soldered into the middle of it. I shall suppose you 
have bought this. It need not be over an inch in length 
altogether ; and you must put it through the hole in the top 
of the boiler, and solder it round on the inside of the same. 
The nearer you can get the stop-cock to the bottom of the 
cylinder the better the engine will work, because the steam 
will have to rise through whatever water is left in this pipe 
from the jet used to cool the steam. You will see that it 
cannot run off by the pipe C into the pump well, like that 
which collects in the cylinder itself. In a real engine the 
steam-tap was a flat plate which slid to and fro sideways, 



248 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

level with the bottom of the cylinder ; but this you would 
^not make easily at present. 

The plug for the safety-valve you must turn out of a 
little lump of brass. It must be about three-eighths of ai: 
inch long ; and you must drill a quarter-inch hole through 
it, and countersink one end of the hole (that is, make it 
wider and conical by turning a rose-bit or larger drill round 
in it a few times), to make a nice seat, as it is called, for the 
valve itself, which need not be now attended to. Remem- 
ber you can buy at Bateman's, or any model-maker's in 
London, beautiful safety-valves ready-made, as well as any 
part of a model engine that you cannot make yourself; 
and indeed it is so far a good plan at first that it saves you 
from becoming tired and disgusted with your work, owing 
to repeated failures. If you buy them, therefore, you must 
do so before you make the holes above alluded to, but in 
some respects it will be more to your advantage to try and 
make all the details for yourself. I cannot call it making 
an engine, if, like many, you buy all the parts and have 
little left to do but screw them, or solder them, together. 
Don't do this, or you will never become a modeller. 

Your boiler from c iQ a is, in height, maybe 2 inches, 
the dome 1^ or thereabout. This will slip inside the part 
that you see in the drawing, and which I here sketch again 
separately.* 

* The bottom joint must therefore be hammered close ; the upper one will 
become a ledge for the boiler to rest on. 



THE BOILER DISSECTED. 



249 




Fii:. 59. 



25© 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



A is the boiler lifted out of B, the outer case or stand, 
which you cau make out of tin, and paint to imitate brichs. 
It is almost a pity to waste sheet-brass upon it, because it 
is not very important, its object being only to carry the 
boiler. It is like D before being folded round and fastened 
(not with solder, which would soon melt, but) by a double 
fold of the joint, similar to that which you made round the 
boiler itself, but turned over once more and hammered 
down. The holes are punched with any round or square 
punch with a flat end, and are intended to give more air to 
the lamp C, which should have three wicks, or two at the 
least, to keep up a good supply of steam. I have shown 
the flat piece of tin with three legs only, which is as well 
as if it were made with four ; but you can please yourself in 
this matter. 

The lamp I need hardly tell you how to make, for it is 
easier than the boiler, being merely a round tin box, in the 
top of which are soldered three little bits of brass tube for 
the wicks, and a fourth for the oil to be poured in — the 
latter being stopped with a cork. 

You should remember that no soldered work, like the iu- 
side of the boiler, must come in contact with the heat of 
the lamp, unless it has water about it, because if the water 
should at any time entirely boil away, the boiler will leak 
and be spoiled. A little care in this respect will insure 
the preservation of a model engine for a long t ime ; but 



HO IV TO MAKE A CYLINDER. 251 

bo3-8 generally destroy them quickly by careless treat- 
ment. 

Let us now turn our attention to the cylinder. Cut oft 
a piece of three-quarter-inch brass tube, 2\ inches in 
length — you can do this with a three-square file — mount it 
in the lathe by making a chuck like Fig. 59, E, of wood, 
the flange of which is just able to go tightly into one end 
of the tube. The other end will probably centre upon the 
conical point of the back poppit, over which it will go 
for only a certain distance. If your back centre will not 
answer on account of its small size, you must make a 
similar flange to go into the other end ; but take care that 
when the back centre is placed against it, it runs truly. 
If the chuck is well made, it will do so. You can now 
with any pointed tool turn off the ends of the tube quite 
squarely to the side; but you should only waste one-quarter 
of an inch altogether, leaving it 2J inches long. When, 
this is done, take it out of the lathe, and in place of it, 
mount a disc of brass rather more than one-eighth of an 
inch thick, or if you have none at hand, take an old half- 
penny or penny piece, which is of copper, and lay it upon 
the flat face of a wooden chuck, driving four nails round 
its edge to hold it, and with a point-tool cut out neatly the- 
centre, of a size to fit inside your tube. You will scarcely, 
however, effect this perfectly without further turning ; so- 
take care to cut it too large ; but before you cut it com- 



252 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

pletely through, make the hole for the tube which you 
soldered into the top of the boiler, which is three-eighths 
diameter. This you can do beautifully in the lathe with a 
pointed tool, or with a drill, centred against the point of 
the back poppit, as I showed you before. 

Cut the disc quite out (too large, mind) and then turn a 
spindle like Gr, mount the disc upon it as shown, by its 
central hole, and turn the edge with a graver or flat tool, 
Buch as is used for brass, until it will exactly fit the brass 
tube. You can cut out round discs of one-eighth or one- 
fourth sheet-brass by mounting any square piece on a 
wooden face chuck, keeping it down by four nails or 
screws, and then with a point-tool cutting a circle in it 
until the disc falls out. You will often save time by so 
doing. You now have a disc of brass or copper with a hole 
three-eighths of an inch wide in it; and as the disc is 
three-fourths of an inch in diameter {i.e.^ six-eighths), you 
will have three-eighths remaining, or three-sixteenths, each 
way on the diameter between the edge of the hole and that 
of the disc. This will just give room for the two small 
holes required, one on each side of the central one, for the 
pipes from the cold-water cistern and to the well below the 
pump. These must both be of brass ; and the first should 
be turned up and end in a jet, like a blowpipe, so as to 
make the water rise in a spray under the piston ; the other 
should be as long as can be conveniently arranged. 



THE PISTON-ROD. 253 

The bottom of the cold-water cistern is drawn a little 
above the top of the cylinder, which is 2^ inches high. K 
jet would theoretically rise in the cylinder to nearly the 
height of the level of water in the cistern ; but with a small 
pipe, and other drawbacks inseparable from a model, you 
must not reckon on more than about half that height, 
which should be sufficient to condense the steam. The 
piston had better be nicely fitted, but not packed. You 
cut a disc of brass as before, drill the hole for the piston, 
make a spindle, or put in the piston-rod, and centre this as 
a spindle, which is the he8t plan, and then with a flat brass 
tool tu'rn the piston accurately to fit the tube. Or, if you 
think it easier, or wish to fasten the piston with a nut, as 
drawn, you can, if you like, turn it on a separate spindle ; 
and thirdly, you may tap the hole in the piston, and screw 
the end of the piston-rod. The great thing to attend to is, 
to turn the edge of the piston square to the sides. 

For the piston-rod, a steel knitting needle or piece of 
straight iron wire will do very well ; but it will have to be 
flattened at the upper end, or screwed into a little piece of 
brass, which must be sawn across to make a fork by which 
the chain can be attached which goes over the beam. Do 
not solder the cistern pipes in just yet, but go on to other 
parts. 

The cistern itself can be made out of any tin box. A 
geidlitz -powder box will answer well, or you can make one 



254 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



about that size, say 4 inclies long, 2| wide, and 2 deep. 
The cistern for the pump will, of course, require to be the 
same size or a little larger ; it may stand on legs or be 
fastened to the bed-plate direct. 

This bed-plate is shown below the picture of the engine. 
It is merely an oblong plate of iron one-sixteenth inch thick, 
or in this particular engine may be of tin neatly fastened to 
a half-inch mahogany board, which will keep all firm. The 
white places show the position of the boiler and of the 
pump cistern, the inner rounds indicating the lamp, and 
pump, and cylinder. The square is merely made to show 
a boiler of that shape, which some prefer; — it is not so 
good as a cylindrical one. 

Whenever you have to make an engine, you should draw 
upon the bed-plate the position of each part, as I have done 
here, because it will serve you as a guide for measurement 
of the several pieces. The four small circles at S S show 
the positions of the legs of the support C, which carries 
the beam. In the drawing only two are given, but there 
would be a similar triangular frame upon this side. This 
may be made very well of stout brass wire, but in a bought 
engine it would be a casting of brass, painted or filed 
bright. 

The beam itself should be of mahogany, 6 inches long, 
half an inch wide (on the side)^ and a quarter of an inch 
thick. The curved pieces you will turn as a ring 3 inches 



THE SAFETY-VALVE. 255 

diameter with a square groove cut in the edge for the 
chain. You can then saw into four, and use two of these, 
morticing the strip of mahogany neatly into them. Then 
finish with four brass wires, as shown, which will keep the 
curved ends stiff and give a finished appearance. The pin 
in the centre should be also of brass, as a few bright bars 
and studs of this metal upon the mahogany give a hand- 
some look to the engine. 

The pump will be of brass tube, made like the cylinder, 
but the bucket may be of boxwood, and so may the lower 
valve, each being merely a disc with a hole in it, and a 
leather flap to rise upwards. The bucket, however, should 
have a groove turned in its edge, to receive a ring of india- 
rubber, or a light packing of tow. The end of the pump- 
rod must be split to make a fork like Y, to allow the valve 
to rise. You can get just such a fork ready to hand out of 
an umbrella, if you can find an old one ; if not, and vou 
cannot split the wire, make the rod rather stouter, and 
bend it, as shown, so as to form only one side of a fork, 
which will probably answer the same purpose in so light a 
pump. 

The valve in both of these may be made of a flap of 
leather — bookbinder's calf, or something not too thick — 
and it may be fastened at one edge by any cement that 
will not be affected by water, or by a small pin, — cut off 
the head of a pin with half an inch of its shank, and point 



256 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

it up to form a small tack. If the valve-box is of box- 
wood, you must drill a bole ; — ^you may make it, if pre- 
ferred, of softer wood. 

There is no support shown in the drawing for the cold- 
water cistern; but you must stand it on four stout wires, or 
on a wooden (mahogany) frame, which can be attached to 
the bed-plate. As this last is always of some importance, 
I shall add it again in this place (Fig. 60), to a scale of 
three-quarters of an inch to the foot, showing the position 
of each part. 

Always begin with a centre line and take each measure 
from it, and draw another across for the same purpose, at 
right angles to the first. You will quickly see the use of 
this. We draw two lines as described A, B, C, D, crossing 
in 0. The longest is the centre line of beam, cylinder, 
and pump. The beam is to be 6 inches long to the outside 
of the middle of each arc, whence the chain is to hang. 
We, therefore, from the centre point, set off 3 inches each 
way. At the exact 3 inches will be the centres of the 
cylinder and pump ; — set these off, therefore, on the plan. 
The end of the tank we must have near the cylinder, 
because we have to bring a pipe from it into the bottom 
of the cylinder. Set off, therefore, the end of the tank 2^ 
inches — i.e^ \\ on each side of the central line, and draw it 
4 inches in length. N shows the position of the pipe close 
to the end and on the line. The centre of the boiler is the 



o, 



'■o 



-o 








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(^ 


^ 




n 






2 \ 




-A 


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XTVcTie^T 












2 / 


c> 


0- 


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a 


D 


V 














X 




c 


) 






z 




^s 






z 








fC 


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/^ 


A 






V 


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(/ ^ 


W 






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«M 



CD 



258 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



same as that of tlie cylinder, so we draw a circle round it 
with a radius of \\ inches, which gives us the 3-inch 
circle of the boiler. Then we may set off equal distances, 
N, N, for the extremeties of the legs of the frame which 
is to support the beam, and we complete our plan. M is 
the waste pipe, and K is the opening for the water to flow 
into the tank. We now find, therefore, that the bed-plate 
must be 13 inches long and 6 inches wide to take the 
engine of the proposed size, and we may, of course, extend 
this a little, if thought desirable. Mark off on the bed all 
the lines of the plan as here given, and always start any 
measurement from one of the two foundation lines, or else, 
if you make one false measure, you will carry it on, pro- 
bably increasing the amount of error at every fresh 
measurement. Let this be with you a rule without ex- 
ception. It is plain that if you work all parts of your 
engine to size, you can set it up on the marked bed-plate 
with perfect accuracy. 

The description I have given will not only enable you to 
make a Newcomen engine with very little difficulty, but 
will give you an insight generally into this kind of work ; 
and you will learn, too, a practical lesson in soldering, turn- 
ing, and fitting. I must, nevertheless, help you a little in 
putting your work together. 

You had better begin by soldering into the bottom of the 
cylinder the end of the steam-pipe^ which you have already 



PUTTING TOGETHER. 259 

fixed upright in the middle of the dome of the boiler, taking 
care that it stand _ .qiiarely across the pipe, or your cylinder 
will not be upright. Then place the boiler in position, and 
you may fix it by turning out slightly the ends of the legs, 
and putting a tack through, or screwing, if the bed-plate is 
of iron, — or with help of Baker's fluid you can solder; but 
this is hardly safe work, and you had better have a wooden 
plate, covered with tin, and tack down the legs. I have 
drawn you a circular lamp, and given three and four legs to 
the boiler-stand; but take care that you so arrange size 
of lamp and openings of the stand as to enable you to 
withdraw the former for trimming and filling. Now fit in 
the two small pipes, previously bent as required. To bend 
them, if hard soldered or brazed, fill with melted lead, and 
then bend ; after which melt out the lead again. If soft 
soldered, you must fill with a more fusible metal. There is 
a composition called " fusible metal," very convenient for 
this work, and well worth making, because you will often 
need to bend small pipes into various forms. Melt 
zinc, 1 oz. ; bismuth and lead, of each the same quantity 
— this will melt in hot water ; 8 parts bismuth, 5 lead, 
and 3 tin, will melt in boiling water. You can buy 
these at any operative chemist's, either mixed, ready 
for use, or separately. Rosin and sand are also u&ed 
for bending tin pipes, the sole object being so to fill 
them that they will become like a solid strip of metal, and 



2fio THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

thus bend slowly and equally, witli rounded and not sliarp 
angles. 

Pass tlie two pipes through from beneath the bottom of 
the cylinder, and solder them on the upper side of it, so 
that when the cylinder itself is added these two joints will 
not be visible. Then set up the cold-water cistern ; block 
it up with anything you like so as to keep it in position, 
and, inserting the pipe from below, solder this also from 
abo\'e, i.e.^ on the inside of the cistern. Now, arrange the 
frame that is to support it, either stout wire or wood, and 
set it up so as finally to secure it in its place. Now, you 
had better set up the pump cistern, so as to secure the other 
small pipe in position, and prevent it from becoming dis- 
placed by any accidental blow. Fix this cistern therefore 
also, but leave the cover off for the present, that you may 
be able to solder the small pipe inside it. 

You will now, at all events, have secured the position of 
the most important parts, and you may drop the cylinder 
into place, and solder this also round the bottom. This 
would be facilitated by turning a slight rebate. Fig. 60, S, 
round the disc which forms the bottom of the cylinder, so 
that the smaller part of it will just fit inside it; but you 
will be able to manage it without. Let the cylinder project 
a very little beyond the bottom, just to allow a kind of 
corner for the solder to run in ; it will not show when all 
is fixed. Do this as quickly as you can, so as not to melt 



PUTTING TOGETHER. 26 \ 

off the solder rouDcI the small pipes. Now, make the pair 
of A-shaped supports for the beam. Measm'e the height Q>i 
your cylinder top, above the bed-plate, and allow about 
another inch, and you will get the perpendicular height to 
the axis of the beam. Allow 3 inches more for each side, 
that is, in all for each side, 3 inches longer than if it was to 
be perpendicular instead of spreading. Take enough brass 
wire, about as thick as a small quill, to make two such legs. 
Bend it in the middle, like T, Fig. 60, and flatten the bent 
part by hammering, so as to allow you to drill a hole to 
take the pivot on which the beam is to oscillate. If you 
like to flatten all of it, and then touch it up with a file, 
so as to get quite straight edges, it will look much more 
handsome. Make two such pieces exactly alike, and, at 
distances alike in each, put cross-bars. File a little way 
into each, making square, flat notches, which will just take 
two flattened bars of the same wire ; heat them, and solder 
very neatly, so that no solder appears on the outside ; file 
all flat and true. In this way you can make almost as neat 
supports as if they were of cast brass, and you are saved all 
the trouble of making patterns. By and by, nevertheless, 
you must do better. 

As I have directed you in this instance to put a wooden 
bed-plate to your engine, you may point the ends of the 
wires, and, making holes sloping at the same angle in the 
wooden stand, drive the wires into them. You have an 



262 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

advantage here, inasmuch as you can raise or lower your 
stand until the position of the beam comes exactly right, 
and you find the ends drop over the centre of the cylinder 
and pump-barrel as it ought to do. When this is the case, 
you can cut off any wire that projects below the stand and 
file it level, for it will not be likely to need more secure 
fixing. The pump may now be soldered into the cover oi 
the cistern (before the cover itself is fastened on), and a 
hole must be then cut to receive the water that will flow 
from the spout, and then the cover can be fitted on. There 
is no need to solder it, if it is made to^^ over- tightly ; and 
you may wish, perhaps, to get at the lower valve of the 
pump now and then. 

The only thing left to do is to arrange the safety-valve 
of the boiler, which is in many cases the place through 
which the water is poured to charge it. In this engine it 
is, however, plain that you can fill the boiler by turning 
both the taps at the same time. A little will run off by the 
waste-pipe, but not enough to signify, because the tube 
below the cylinder is so much the larger of the two. The 
safety-valve is a little bit of brass turned conical to fit the 
•' eieat," made by counter-sinking the hole. It is shown at 
K, Fig. 59, N being the seat, P the dome of the boiler, 
and close to is the gauge-tap for ascertaining the height 
of water in the boiler. L M is a lever of flattened wire, 
pivoted to turn on a pin at L, — L being an upright wire 



PUTTING TOGETHER. 



263 



soldered to the boiler. A notcli is filed across the top of 
the valve, on which the lever, L M, rests. The weight is 
at M. One, as large as a big pea, hung at the end of a 
lever 2 inches long, the valve at half an inch from the 
other end, will probably suffice for this engine. 




Chapter Xni 




watt's engine. 

HAVE already told you that Watt suggested 

the use of steam alternately on each side of the 

piston ; and carried it out by closing the top of 

the cylinder, and allowing the rod of the piston 

to pass through a stuffing-box or gland. I now have to 

explain to you how this alternate admission of the steam 

may be effected. 

You evidently require first an opening at the top and 
bottom of the cylinder, communicating with the boiler, one 
only being open at a time ; but in this case, where is the 
steam to escape that was on one side of the piston when 
the opposite side was being acted upon ? It must go 
somewhere, but evidently must not return to the boiler. 
Hence, some method has to be contrived by which, when 
one end of the cylinder is open to the boiler, the other 
may be open to the air or to the condenser (in which the 



TV A TT'S ENGINE. 



265 




Fig. 61. 



266 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

steatn is cooled under Watt's plan). Fig, 61 will, I think j 
render clear one or two of these arrangements. 

The first is the four-way cock, a very simple contriv- 
ance, easily and frequently used in models. You must 
first understand how a common water or beer tap is made, 
Fig. 61, A, represents one in section, turned so as to open 
the passage along the pipe to which it is attached ; C is the 
pipe in which is the tap, a conical tube of brass set 
upright, and with a hole right and left made through it, 
fixed into a short horizontal tube (generally cast with it 
in one piece). Into this fits very exactly the conical plug 
B, also with a hole through it sideways. When this is put 
into place, no water or other liquid can pass, unless the 
hole in the plug is in the same direction with the hollow 
tube forming an open passage. If a key is put on the 
square part of the plug, and it is turned half round, the 
passage through the pipe will be closed. A steam tap 
would be made in a similar manner, if its only office were 
to open and close a passage in a tube. But we now want 
two passages closed and two opened, and then the alternate 
pair closed and opened. This is cleverly effected bj a four- 
way cock. 

At D is shown a section of the steam cylinder and piston, 
with the stuffing-box and all complete. A pipe enters this 
at the top and bottom, and another crosses it in the middle, 
making four passages. Shaded black is the four-way cock, 



THE FO UR- WA Y COCK. 269 

tlie white places showing the open channels through the 
plug. When this plug stands as at D, steam can pass from 
the boiler to the top of the cylinder only, above the piston, 
which it drives downward ; the steam below the piston 
escapes through the other open-curved channel into the air, 
or to the condenser. Just as the piston reaches the bottom 
of the cylinder, the tap is turned, and the passage stands 
as seen at E. Steam now passes to the bottom below the 
piston, driving it upward, and the steam above it, which 
has done its work, passes outward through the other open 
channel of the tap. 

You must understand that when Newcomen first set up 
his engine, a man had to turn the taps at the proper 
moment ; and it is said that one Humphrey Potter, a boy, 
being left in charge, and getting tired of this work, first 
devised means to make the engine itself do this, by con- 
necting strings tied to the handles of the taps to the beam 
that moved up and down above his head. Beighton and 
others improved on this, and very soon it became unneces- 
sary for the attendant to do anything but keep up a good 
fire, and attend to the quantity of water in the boiler, and 
the pressure of the steam. 

In the model I gave you of Newcomen's engine, I pur- 
posely left the taps to be moved by hand ; but F of the 
present figure shows how, by bringing them near together, 
and adding cogged wheels or pulleys, you would make one 



c68 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



handle answer for both ; and I shall leave you to" devise an 
easy method of making the engine work this one handle fol 
itsalf. When "Watt made his first engine, therefore, this 
work had been already done, and he only had io improve 
upon it, and to make it work more accurately to suit the 
engine designed by himself. 

If you should chance to pay a visit to the Museum at 
South Kensington, you may see, I believe. Watt's original 
engine, if not Newcomen's. The cylinders are so large and 
cumbrous, that the wonder is they were ever bored by the 
inefficient means then in use; and the beam is a most 
unwieldy mass of timber and iron, that looks as if no 
power of steam could ever have made it oscillate. Yet it 
was in its day a successful engine, the wonder of the age ; 
and did good work for its inventor and purchaser. I 
strongly advise my readers to try and visit Kensington, 
for there are many interesting models there, besides engines 
and appliances of older days. They will thus learn what 
rapid progress has been made since the days of Savery, 
Newcomen, and Watt ; not only in the improvement of the 
arrangement of the parts, but in the workmanship, which 
last is mainly due to the invention of the slide-rest and 
planing-machine. 

We must now return to the double-acting or real steam 
engine, and consider a second means whereby the Kteam 
can be alternately admitted and exhausted. 



THE LONG SLIDE-VALVE. 269 

The four- way cock, already explained, was found to wear 
very considerably in practice, and hence work loose, and a 
new contrivance, called the slide-valve, soon took its place. 
Of this there are two patterns, the long D-valve and the 
short one, which latter is used for locomotives. There is 
also a form called a tappet-valve, often used for arge 
stationary engines, but which is noisy and subject to rapid 
wear. I shall describe the long D first, in the form in 
which it would be most easily made for a model engine. 

The two ports by which steam passes to the cylinder are 
shown at J, e, of H, Fig. 61. C is the passage to the 
boiler, K is that to the condenser. These are openings in 
a tube smoothly bored within, and having at the top a 
stuffing-box like that on the cylinder. Within this tube 
works an inner one, h^ having rings or projections at the 
ends fitting perfectly, and which are packed with india- 
rubber, hemp (or, in modern days, with metal), to make 
a close fit. In a model, two bosses of brass, K, soldered 
on the tube and then turned, make the best packing. 
These packed portions of the inner tube form the stoppers 
to the steam ports, e e, alternately, at the top and bottom 
The upper part of the inner tube has a cross arm, 3, 
affixed, from the centre of which rises the valve-rod by 
which it is moved up and down. In the position 1, the 
steam can pass from c round the tube to </, and thence to 
the top of the cylinder to which d is attached. The exhaust 



270 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

Bteam passes from e below the piston by /« to the condenser. 
In the second position, 2, the steam is evidently shut off 
from d^ but can pass out 2X e e below the cylinder, while 
the communication is still open to the condenser from f/, 
through the middle of the tube to K. This is a very good 
form of valve, because the exhaust is always open, and the 
motion is smooth and equal. 

There are many modifications of the long D-valve, but 
the principle of all is the same ; I shall therefore describe 
the short slide-valve which is nearly always used in the 
models which are purchased at the shops. This, too, is 
the usual form of valve in locomotives, traction-engines, 
and the majority of those in use for agricultural and 
similar purposes. A, Fig. 62, is the cylinder as before 
in section with piston. A thick piece is cast with the 
cylinder, on one side of it, having steam ports also cast in 
it, which are here lefc white. The two as before go to the 
top and bottom of the cylinder, and have no communi- 
cation with the central one, which is bored straight into 
the boss, and generally is turned at right angles and con - 
nected with the condenser, or with a pipe opening into the 
chimney of the engine to increase the draught by means of 
the jets of steam, as is the case always in locomotives, or into 
the air, which is less usual. Seen from behind, fuese ports 
are like B, being cast and cut rectangular ; and the face, B, 
is planed quite level, which is absolutely necessary to the 



THE SHORT SLIDE- VAL VE. 



Zft 




Fig 62. 



272 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

proper action of the slide-valve which has to work upon 
it. This valve is a box of iron, C, with a wide flange or 
rim, this flange being of sufficient width to close either 
port. If this valve is placed as it stands when the engine 
is at rest, h covers the upper steam port, and a the lower ; 
while the exhaust or middle port is open to the hollow part 
of the box. Now, if we slide the valve downwards until the 
upper port is open, the other two will be in communication, 
being united by being both together in the inside of this 
box or valve. Suppose the valve then cased in, and that 
steam is admitted from the boiler into the case, it is 
evident that such steam could freely pass to the top of 
the cylinder above the piston to force it downwards, while 
that which was below would escape by the lower port into 
the box, and thence pass to the condenser. If, instead of 
pushing down the valve, we had drawn it upwards, the 
lower port would have been opened, and the upper and 
middle would have been brought into communication in- 
side the valve, and the contrary efiect would have been 
produced upon the piston. 

This is the arrangement adopted, and which will be 
clearly understood from the following sectional drawing, 
D. «, a, is the thick casting upon the cylinder, with the 
upper and lower steam ports, which end towards the middle 
of the cylinder, with the third port lying between ; then h 
is a section of the valve, in such a position that the flange 



THE SHORT SLIDE- VAL VE. 273 



of it no loncrer covers the lower steam port, while the other 
two are open together on the inside of the valve. The 
latter is cased in by the valve-box, e e, in the back of 
which is the steam pipe /coming from the boiler. The 
valve-rod, which is moved by the engine, passes at c 
through a stuffing-box. It is evidently necessary that 
this slide-valve should fit, and work very smoothly and 
correctly against the face of the ports, so as not to allow 
any escape of the steam. It is not, however, packed in 
any way at the back (although springs have been some- 
times added), because, as the back is subjected to the full 
pressure of the steam from the boiler, this keeps it quite 
close to its seat. The rod, however, by which it is worked, 
might prevent this close contact of the two surfaces if it 
was screwed into the valve; it is therefore made with a 
cross, E, at the end, which falls into a notch in a boss 
cast upon the back of the valve as seen at F. This allows 
a certain degree of play in one direction, and permits the 
steam to press it close even after it has become worn by 



use. 



You will, I think, now clearly understand how steam 
can be admitted alternately to the top and bottom of a 
cylinder, and how the exhausted steam that has done its- 
work escapes. I must therefore now tell you how the rod 
of the slide-valve is moved up and down by the engine,, 
but to do this, I must draw such engine complete. 



8 



274 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 




W 

YDUNCJloiH' 



r-;-,. m. 



THE MOVEMENT OF THE PISTON-ROD. 275 

The cylinder, A, is screwed down on its side upon the 
bed-plate, II R, out of which are cut two holes, one for 
the fly-wheel, P, of which part only appears for want 0/ 
space, the other for the crank, L, on the end of the axle, 
M M, running through bearings, N N. The slide-valve-box 
is at B, C being the steam-pipe from the boiler. The piston- 
rod has necessarily to move only in a straight line in the 
direction of its length, but the crank which it has to work 
to turn the fly-wheel must needs move round in a circle. 
Hence, a poker -and-tongs joint, F F, is arranged. 
The connecting-rod, H, which is attached to the crank by 
brasses at K, divides or is attached to a forked piece, at 
the lower end of which are a pair of bearings or brasses, 
F F. The piston-rod carries the piece 0, the cross-bar of 
which is turned, being, in fact, the pin which passes into 
these bearings at F F. This forms, therefore, a hinge- 
joint at this place, so that although the piston-rod cannot 
leave the right line, and can only slide in the guide, E, 
the rod, H, has an up-and-down motion upon this hinge, 
allowing the revolution of the crank-pin to take place. D 
is the valve-rod, in which is a hinge at S, which suffices for 
the slight movement required in the rod, as it rises and 
falls by the action of the eccentric, T, the motion and efiect 
of which I now have to explain. 

Y is a round disc of metal with a recess on its edsre, so 
that it is like an ordinary pulley, but large in proportion to 



2 76 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

its tliickness. A hole for the main crank axle, to which it 
has to he firmly keyed, is made through it, hut not in its 
centre (hence its name, eccentric — out of the centre). As 
the axle revolves, it is evident that this disc revolving with 
it will carry any point, Y, of its surface round in a circle ; 
the centre of y/hich is on the central line or axis of the 
crank-shaft. I have drawn such circle as described by the 
point Y, farthest from the axis ; but any and all points 
describe larger or lesser circles round the same centre. 
The point Y may, therefore, be considered as the centre of 
a crank-pin ; and the eccentric might, so far as its effects 
are concerned, be replaced by a crank. Now, if you turn 
the fly-wheel of your lathe by hand, the crank will revolve, 
but the treadle will rise and fall only in a straight line ; 
and you will presently see how the eccentric, in its revolu- 
tion, gives just such a to-and-fro motion to the rod D, 
and consequently also to the slide-valve, which it has to 
move. 

Round the disc Y, closely encircling it, is a flat ring, 
shown separately at X, with a rod, W, attached to and part 
of it. This ring is generally made in separate halves, 
united by bolts passing through projecting lugs or ears. 
The ring also fits into the groove turned on the edge of the 
disc V, so that it cannot slip off sideways. This outer ring 
is turned quite smooth and true on the inside, so that the 
eccentric disc can revolve within it. In doing so, it is 



THE ECCENTRIC. 27; 

plain that the whole ring will rise and fall, and that the 
rod W will move up and down, or to and fro, like the 
treadle of the lathe, thereby giving motion to the valve- 
rod, which is a continuation of the rod W. As the upper 
end, however, of this rod has an oscillating, or up-and- 
down motion, this is imparted, in a certain degree, to its 
other end, at the farthest distance from the eccentric ; and 
hence the necessity for a hinged joint at S, to prevent the 
valve-rod from partaking of this movement. It is, how- 
ever, very slight, so that the rod of the valve is not often 
made to pass through guides like the piston. The whole 
movement of the valve-rod is very limited, its traverse only 
being required to be sufficient to shift the valve the width 
of one of its ports at each stroke. The length of stroke or 
traverse which can be obtained by the eccentric is always 
equal to twice the distance between its real centre, and that 
on which it turns, which will always be a guide to you in 
making an engine. 

The drawing here described is a plan, i.e.^ a drawing 
viewed directly from above ; therefore I cannot show you 
the perspective view of the parts, which are, indeed, in 
many cases only suggested by the shading. I have, there- 
fore, added a second drawing of the several details. This 
engine is, in construction, the simplest that can be devised 
with a slide-valve, there being no additions beyond what 
are absolutely necessary to make it work ; the exhaust-port 



278 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



is below, opposite to the letter B on tlie valve-box. A, 
Fig. 64, is tlie forked connecting-rod, marked H in the 




Fig. 64. 



previous drawing. This is cast with forked ends, ar, and x. 



DETAILS. «79 

Y (the latter being F F of Fig. 63). These ends receive 
brasses in the following way, the end x being represented 
on a larger scale at B, with such brasses in place ; of these 
there are two shaped like D. One of these lies in the fork 
of the connecting-rod end. A second similar one lies in 
the strap of iron C, which reaches beyond the fii'st. A 
cotter or key, which is, in fact, a wedge of iron, is then 
passed through a slot in the strap, and a similar one in the 
rod ; and being driven home, draws the two brasses tightly 
together, causing them to embrace the crank-pin, L, Fig. 
63, or any similar bearing. All shafts that revolve in 
bearings are made to pass through brasses, and whenever 
these occur at the end of a rod, they are fitted as here 
described. E is another bearing of cast-iron, also fitted with 
brasses ; but in a case like this, a plate lies on the upper one, 
and is screwed down by bolts and nuts as required. This 
bearing would do very well at E, Fig. 63, as a guide for 
the piston-rod; but in models such guide is commonly 
made without brasses, like F or G of the present drawing. 
At H, I have shown the part F F of the drawing 63. 
The middle is of brass or iron ; if of the former, g g must 
be separate, as these gudgeons would not be substantial 
enough, unless of iron or steel. It is essential 'hat K L, 
the piston-rod, should be in one right line ; but^ if this ia 
attended to, they need not necessarily be one piece ; and 
frequentl)' the piston-rod, L, is fii'ed into one end of tlic 



28o THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

central casting, and another rod, K, is screwed into the 
other. In a model, the piston-rod should pass quite 
through, and g g should be two separate gudgeons screwed 
in, and then turned together in the lathe, to insure their 
being exactly in one line. These go into the brasses in 
the forked ends of the connecting-rod, to form a hinge at 
that part, as will be understood by a reference to Fig. 63. 

At M, I have shown another simple eccentric and rod, 
which is less trouble to make in a model than the other. 
In this the ring is made in one piece, with a round rod 
screwing into it. The disc has a slight groove turned in 
its edge, and a small screw, P, passes through the ring and 
falls into this groove. This suffices to prevent the ring 
from falling off sideways, and of course is not screwed 
down so tight as to prevent the disc from revolving. This 
is a very easy way to fit the eccentric, and is generally 
followed in small engines. The lattice eccentric rod is 
nearly always used in large beam engines. 

I do not think the reader will now have any difficulty in 
understanding the precise arrangement of the various parts 
in the simple horizontal engine of which I have given a 
sketch. It is a neat and convenient form, easily arranged 
as a model, and I shall proceed at once to the practical 
work of constructing this, and engines in general, presup- 
posing a knowledge of the use of the lathe, and of the few 
tools required. 



Chapter XIV. 



HOW TO MAKE AN ENGINE. 




HE very first mechanical work of difficulty, but of 
pre-eminent importance, in making an engine, 
is boring the cylinder, that is, if the same is a 
casting, and not a piece of tube ready made and 
smooth on the inside. This is, properly speaking, lathe 
work, yet may be done in a diiferent way. Suppose you 
have bought your entire set of castings, which is the best 
way, and that the cylinder is half an inch diameter inside, 
which is a manageable size to work upon. Get a half-inch 
rosebit, which is very like the countersinks sold with the 
carpenter's brace and bits. Mount it in the lathe in a 
chuck, A, Fig. 65. Unscrew the point of the back poppit, 
and slip over the spindle a boring-flange, B, which is 
merely a flat plate like a surface chuck, only the socket is 
not screwed but bored out, generally large enough to slip 
over the spindle. Sometimes there is, however, a screw at 



88 « 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 




C 




Fig. 65. 



HOW TO MAKE AN ENGINE. 283 



the back, to screw into the spindle, the same as the points 
or centres. On the face of this lay a piece of board of equal 
thickness, but it is as well if not planed, as its object is 
partly to prevent the cylinder from slipping about dm-ing 
the operation, as it is sometimes inclined to do upon the 
smooth metal flange, and partly to prevent the borer or 
rosebit from coming in contact with the flange when it 
has passed through the cylinder. Grasp the latter in the 
left hand, and you can easily prevent it from revolving with 
the drill, which will go through rapidly, and leave the hole 
beautifully finished and quite true from end to end, — ■ 
indeed, I have bored iron also, rapidly and with great ease, 
with this tool. 

It is absolutely necessary, remember, that this hole bored 
in the cylinder should be at right angles to the ends of tlie 
same, and to secure this you must now make use of it to 
mount the cylinder in the lathe to turn these ends or 
flanges. I will show you a simple and easy way to do this. 
C is a bar of iron or steel, preferably of the latter, about 6 
inches long, and three-eighths diameter, filed into six sides. 
It is a good plan to have three or four sizes of such bars, 
with centre holes di-illed carefully into each end, so that 
you can mount them with a carrier-chuck, as you would if 
you were going to turn them. Taking one of about the 
size named, mount upon it a piece of wood, and turn this 
down until your cylinder will just go tightly upon it. 



IHE \OUNG MECHANIC, 



Being a six-sided bar, it is easy to mount the wood upon \\ 
by boring the latter with a gimlet and then driving the bar 
into it. It will hold tightly, and not turn round upon the 
metal. The cylinder being fixed in this way, you must 
turn the two flanges with a graver if the cylinder is of iron, 
but with a flat tool or the four-sided brass tool if of the 
latter metal ; and also turn the edges of the flanges. The 
rest of the cylinder will be left in the rough, and may be 
painted green or black. I should advise you always to bore 
the cylinder first when possible, and then to mount it as 
described and turn it on the ends, which are thus sure to 
be correctly at right angles to the bore. Some cylinders, 
however, especially short ones, may be squared up first, and 
then mounted on a face-plate and bored. Unless, however, 
you have either a grip-chuck, which is self-centring, or 
some clamps properly constructed for this particular work, 
you will find the first method the easiest, especially for 
small light work. 

You should now make the ports for steam and exhaust. 
Mark them upon the flat part of the casting, after you 
have filed this as level as you can, and do not mark them 
so long as not to leave you room beyond the ends of the 
ports for the steam-box or case which has to be placed here. 
The upper and lower ports are to be the same size, but the 
middle one may be a trifle larger with advantage. In 
larger engines these are cast in the metal, and have only 



HOW TO MAKE AN ENGINE. 285 

to be trimmed and faced ; but in the small models you have 
to drill them out in the boss cast on the cylinder. Drill 
down from the top, as shown at D by the dotted lines, but 
take great care not to go farther than the outer ports, which 
are to be therefore first made, so that you can tell when ths 
drill has gone far enough. If you pierce the middle port 
from either end, the cylinder is spoiled. To cut the middle 
one, you merely drill a hole straight in towards the cylinder, 
and meet it by another drilled from the side, into which the 
pipe for the exhaust is to be screwed. You also drill 
straight through into the cylinder at a b, and you then 
plug the end ofy, and that at the other end of the cylinder. 
Your port faces, however, are generally oblong, and not 
round. Make a row of holes with the drill, and then, with 
a little narrow steel chisel and light hammer, chip out 
the superfluous metal, and finish with a small file. You 
can always make narrow channels with squared sides by 
thus drilling two or more holes, and throwing them into 
one with a file ; but in reality, for these small engines, it is 
very little matter whether the ports are round in section or 
square. 

The bottom and top of the cylinder demand our next 
attention. E and F show these. They are easily and in- 
stantly mounted in a self-centring chuck, but can be held 
very well in one of wood carefully bored with a recess of the 
right size and depth. You must here, nevertheless, b avery 



286 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

particular, else you will get your work untrue at this point, 
and tlien your piston-rod will stand awry, and all your 
subsequent fitting will be badly done. I therefore give you 
at G a section of the chuck bored to take the cover truly. 
Recess the part down to the line a 3, to fit the cover exactly, 
taking care to level very carefully the bottom of the recess. 
Below this cut a deeper hole, to allow the flange in which 
the stuffing-box will be to go into it. It need not, how- 
ever, _yf^ the flange. The rough casting will hold very well 
in a chuck like this, even if it is of iron. You now care- 
fully face the bottom of the cover, and turn the slight 
flange exactly to fit into the cylinder ; then reverse it in the 
chuck, so as to get the stuffing-box outside ; and in doing 
so, take the greatest care that it beds flat upon the bottom 
of the chuck. Turn off level the top of the flange first at x 
of fig. E, and then place a drill with its point against the 
middle of this, and its other end (with a little hole 
punched in it to keep it steady) against the back poppit 
centre, and carefully drill a hole down to the level of c^ 
large enough to admit the gland of the stuffing-box or nearly 
so ; but remember that you must not go too far, because 
the rest of the hole must only juak allow the piston-rod to 
go through it. Therefore, after you have drilled about 
three-fourths of the distance, replace this drill by a smaller 
one, and with it bore quite through. The advantage of be- 
ginning in this way is, that you can now bring up the back 



HOW TO MAKE AN ENGINE. 287 

centre of your lathe to steady the cylinder cover while you 
finish turning it ; and as you will have to make a chuck 
only to take hold of the flange b, while you turn the edge, 
you will need probably some extra support of this kind. I 
have, nevertheless, turned an iron cylinder cover 2\ inches 
diameter without any such support ; the actual strain not 
being very severe, provided you understand how a tool 
should be made and held. 

The above directions apply equally to the cylinder bottom, 
the great secret in this and all similar work being to take 
care to bed the work well and truly against the bottom of 
the recess, turned in the chuck ; this being neglected, will 
result in the two faces not being parallel, which will terribly 
throw out of truth the rest of your work. Indeed, in all 
fitting of this kind, it is absolutely necessary to be exact 
in the squaring and truing of each several piece that has 
to be turned or filed ; otherwise no planning or clumsy 
arrangement will make your mechanism work as it ought 
to do. Take a week, if necessary, over any part, and don't 
be content until it is well done. 

Your cylinder ought now to have a finished appearance 
when the cover and bottom are placed in position, but the 
latter have to be permanently attached by small screws, 
and these I strongly advise you to buy. They cost about 
50 cents a dozen, including a tap with which to make a 
thread in the holes made to receive them ; or, if you prefer 



288 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

it, you can buy miniature bolts and nuts at almost as 
cheap a rate, which would cost you much time and trouble 
to make for yourself, if, indeed, you succeeded at all. You 
will want four of these for the top, and the same for the 
bottom, the holes for which you will make with a small 
archimedean or other drill. 

The mention I have made of this reminds me that I am 
gradually adding considerably to your list of tools, and it 
is necessary to do so if you take up model-making. Set 
down, at any rate, the following : — 

Archimedean Dkill-Stock and 6 Drills. 

Table -Vice. 

Hand -Vice or Pin -Vice. 

Small Bkass-Back Saws for Metal. 

Pair of Small Pliers. 

And for use in the lathe, either two or three sizes of rose- 
bits, or engineer's half-round boring bits, of which I shall 
have to speak presently; and, unless you buy all screws 
and nuts, you will want screw-plate and taps, or small 
stock and dies. Files of square, round, and oblong section 
are matters of course. Remember, too, that after a file 
has been used on iron and steel, it is useless for brass ; so 
use new ones on the latter metal first, and after such use 
they will answer for cast iron and then for wrought iron. 
You will find the cost of files rather heavy unless you 
attend to this. Have neat handles to all your smaller files, 
with ferules to prevent splitting. 



THE VALVE-BOX. 289 

When you purchase the castings of the engine, jou will 
find a valve-box to enclose the slide and become a steam- 
chest, as explained. It is like a box with neither top nor 
bottom, but with a flange, or turned-out edge all round, for 
the screws by which it is to be attached to the valve-tacings 
of the cylinder. This box must have its flanges filed up^ 
bright on their flat sides and edges — the rest may be painted.. 
It will exercise your skill to get the two faces flat and true, 
to fit upon the cylinder ; and at last you will find it ex- 
pedient to put a brown paper rim or washer between the 
surfaces, or a bit of very thin sheet lead, to make a steam-- 
tight joint. Do not solder it, if it is possible to use screws,. 
because this is nearly certain to get melted off; and, if not, 
it is not nearly so neat and workmanlike a way of uniting 
the parts. You should, indeed, in all models, put them 
together in such a way as to be able at any time to 
separate the different pieces again, either for the purpose 
of cleaning or repair ; and, if you solder, you cannot easily 
do this. 

The valve-casing and its back are generally put on. 
together ; four screws at the corners passing through the- 
back and both flanges into the flat side of the cylinder.. 
This depends, however, upon the exact shape of these 
different pieces ; and I can give you no special direction* 
for a particular case unless I could see the castings whicb 
you have to fit together. The stufl&ng-box you will make 



290 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

quite separate, both its outer and inner part, and screw oi 
solder the former into place. It is seldom cast upon the 
valve-casing, because of the difficulty of chucking a cubical 
object safely so as to turn any part of it. 

You are not to screw or solder the valve-box to the 
cylinder until you have carefully filed up the valve itself to 
slide upon the port face, without the possibility of any escape 
of steam taking place. This needs the greatest possible 
care ; and probably, after doing what you can with a flat 
file, you will have to put a little emery and oil between 
the surfaces, and grind them to a perfect fit, by rubbing 
them together. This grinding with emery is an operation 
frequently required in mechanical engineering. Lathe- 
mandrels are fitted in this way into the collars ; the 
cylinder is also ground into the back poppit-head. It is 
not a very long or difficult operation, but whenever you 
have had to use it, take care to wipe off" the emery, or it 
will keep on grinding. It is indeed very difficult to do 
this perfectly ; and for very fine work, such as fitting the 
mandrel of a screw-cutting lathe {i.e.^ a traversing mandrel), 
oil-stone powder and crocus are used, in place of emery. 
These, however, cut very slowly, making the operation of 
grinding exceedingly tedious ; and in the present instance, 
emery will answer quite well enough. In very small 
engines, a stroke or two of a file is all that is needed to fit 
the valve, which is so small as hardly to be worthy of the 



PISTON AND PISTON-ROD. 291 



name ; but in an engine with cylinder of 1 or 2-incli bore, 
it will be impossible to do with file alone, as well as you 
can with grinding. 

The piston and piston-rod should be turned at the same 
time, as already suggested in treating of the atmospheric 
engine of Newcomen. By this, you will avoid getting the 
piston " out of square " with its rod, as if you had bored 
the hole for the latter askew — a not unusual occurrence. 

I do not mean to say that it is absolutely necessary for 
you to turn the piston-r<?«? at all, for, in models, it is gener- 
ally of round iron or steel-wire, which is as cylindrical as 
you can possibly make it. Knitting-needles are in general 
use for this, as being well finished and equalised from end 
to end. But these are rather hard, being tempered only to 
about the degree of steel-springs ; therefore you must never 
attempt to cut a screw on them until you have first heated 
the end to be screwed red-hot, and allowed it to cool again 
very slowly. If you do this, a screw-plate will put a suffi- 
ciently good thread to allow you to attach either the piston, 
or "the small piece of brass necessary to form the hinge, 
upon the other end of the rod — that is to say, the piece 
marked H in Fig. 64. Leave this for the present, how- 
ever, not attempting at present to cut either the piston-rod 
or valve-rod to its intended length. You cannot do this 
until you have laid down the exact plan of the engine, and 
marked on the bed-plate the position of all the parts. 



292 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

I shall now suppose that you have finished the cylinder, 
with its slide-valve, casing, stuffing-boxegs, and piston, so 
that you have these in exactly the state in which you might 
buy them at Bateman's and elsewhere, if you preferred, to 
spare yourself the trouble of boring the cylinder and fitting 
it. You can buy them just in this condition, with the rest 
of the castings in the rough ; but I rather hope you may 
prefer to try and do for yourself the not very heavy or diffi- 
cult work which I have described. 

I suppose you, indeed, to have bought the forked con- 
necting-rod, either arranged for brasses, or with holes 
drilled (or to be drilled) in the ends, which would probably 
be the case for a model of the size named, and also the 
various bearings, guides, and so forth required — some of 
which would have to be turned, and some filed, but which 
ought now to present little difficulty to our young 
mechanic. 

Try to keep sharp edges to all your filed work, unless evi- 
dently intending to round them ; for surfaces pretending to 
be flat, but partaking of a curved sectional form, charac- 
terise the workman as undeniably a bad hand with the file, 
and not worth his wages. Still I may tell you at once that 
nothing is so difficult as to use a file well. It has a knack 
of rounding off edges, which always get more than their 
proper share of its work. But this being the case, you will 
know what to try and avt'd. Therefore, always endeavour 



THE ECCENTRIC. 293 



in filing a flat surface to make it slightly hollow in the 
middle, which it is scarcely possible, however, for you to 
do ; but the endeavour to effect this by filing the middle 
more than the edges will help you wonderfully in keeping 
the latter sharp. Those, for instance, on the fork of the 
connecting-rod, especially the inside ones, should be as 
straight and sharp as possible ; and if you round the out- 
side edge, take care to do it so that it shall be evident you 
intended it; and so with all edges, whether turned or 
filed. 

The disc of the eccentric can only be turned by letting it 
into a chuck to something less than half its thickness, and 
levelling one side and half the edge, and then reversing it; 
unless you prefer to drill and mount it on a spindle upon 
its centre. If you do this, you will of course eventually 
have two holes in it ; because this first one is not that by 
which it will be mounted when in place. This second hole 
is not, however, of the least importance, and may be left 
without plugging, and, if preferred, may become in part 
ornamented by drilling additional holes, and filing them 
into some pattern ; or if it is desired to conceal the one it 
was turned upon, this can be plugged and faced off, and 
will then not be the least apparent. If the outer ring, or 
strap, as it is called, is to be made in two pieces, with pro- 
jecting lugs, it is evident the outside edge cannot well be 
turned ; and, unless you have that most useful addition to 



2 94 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

the lathe, a grip or jaw-chuck, you will have some little 
difficulty in letting the ring into a wooden chuck, so as to 
turn the inside. The solid ring is, therefore, preferable (if 
you use the first, however, you turn it up as a single ring, 
and then saw it across through the lugs), which can be let 
into a common chuck, with a place chiselled out to allow 
the boss to project, into which the eccentric rod has to be 
screwed. This boss also has to be drilled and turned on 
the outside. There are several modes of chucking it which 
can be applied, but the simplest is to use the carrier-chuck, 
and to let the ring become its own carrier by coming against 
the pin, as shown in Fig. 66, A. 

When the ring is very small, I should first drill the hole 
for the wire rod, and then screw and mount it upon a little 
wire spindle, as in fig. B, aiding this, if necessary, by the 
back centre. But the smallest models require to be put 
into a watch-maker*s lathe or throw, and, except as curi- 
osities, are scarcely worth making. 

I have already told you never to undertake engine-mak- 
ing without first laying down a full-sized plan on paper, 
with centre lines through the principal parts, from which 
to take all measurements, and to mark these upon the base- 
plate, as a guide to the perfect adjustment of the various 
parts. Some of these are capable of a little extra adjust- 
ment after being put in place : the eccentric rod, for 
instance, can be lengthened or shortened by screwing into 



THE FLY-WHEEL. 29^ 

or out of the eccentric ring; and the piston-rod, 100, may 
be similarly lengthened or shortened slightly; but try to 
work as near as you can to precise measure without such 
adjustment. 

To turn the fly-wheel, which is the last operation (in- 
cluding the crank-axle), it is better carefully to drill the 
boss, if not already done, marking the centre on each side, 
and working half through from each, so as to insure the 
squareness of the hole with the side of the wheel, which is 
very important. Then mount it at once upon its axle, pre- 
viously turned slightly conical, where the wheel is to be 
placed, and run both together in the lathe. This will 
insure the wheel running true when the engine is put 
together. 

In the horizontal engine which I have sketched, the 
crank is quite separate from the axle ; and this is the easiest 
way to make it. The crank itself is filed up, like C of fig. 
66, and drilled for the axle and the pin upon which the 
brasses on the connecting-rod work. Tm-n down the end 
of the crank-shaft very slightly conical, until the crank 
will almost go over it. Then heat the crank, which will 
expand it and enable you to slip it on the shaft. Dip it in 
cold water, and it will be as firm as if made in one piece 
with the axle. This is called shrinking it on, and the 
operation will often stand you in good stead, and save the 
trouble of filing key-ways and making the small wedges 



896 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



called keys. The pin D can in this case be turned 
up separately, and screwed in, which will complete the 
work. 

The eccentric must evidently be placed in position before 
the crank is added, and this, too, might be shrunk on, were 
it not that it cannot easily be fixed in a model until the 
engine is set up. The best way, therefore, is, in this case, 
to turn the eccentric with a little projecting boss to take 
a set screw, E, Fig. 66. 

Where the axle has to pass through bearings, it must be 
turned down at these parts, so that the whole will be like F. 
First on the right is the journal, e, then the place for the 
fiy-wheel, </, very slightly conical — the smallest part being 
towards e — then the second journal, and then another 
slightly conical part, the smallest end towards a, to take 
the eccentric and crank. The fly-wheel you will key on shaft, 
thus : — G represents the boss or centre of the wheel bored 
for the axle, and a key-way or slot filed on one side at a. 
There is a flat place filed on the axle, and the wheel is 
turned round to bring this opposite to the key-way. A 
wedge or key, 3, is then driven in, which keeps the wheel 
secure, and prevents it from turning round or working 
loose on the axle. If inconvenient to turn a boss and add 
a set-screw to the eccentric, this also may be keyed in its 
place after its position has been found ; but, for the latter 
purpose, it should fit rather tightly on the axle, so that \\ 



DIAGRAMS. 



a97 




^ig. 66- 



298 THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

can be just moved round with the finger stiffly until its 
position with respect to the crank is ascertained. 

This position I shall now endeavour to explain, using a 
diagram from an American work, in which this generally 
supposed difficult point is thus ahly and satisfactorily ex- 
plained. First, put your engine together as if for work, 
and having cut the eccentric rod to about the length you 
seem to require, judging from your plan drawn upon the 
bed-plate, turn round the eccentric, with your fingers upon 
the crank-shaft, and, having removed the cover of the 
valve-box, so that you can see the action on the valve, 
watch the motion of the latter. Doubtless, the result will 
be that one of the steam-ports will be opened clear to the 
exhaust-port, while the other is nearly or entirely shut. 
The rod is then too long or too short. If in a horizontal 
engine the port nearest to the crank is wide open and the 
other shut, the rod is too long, and must be shortened half 
the difierence only i^you will do this by screwing it farther 
into the eccentric hoop). When the valve " runs square," 
or opens and shuts the ports correctly, set the eccentric as 
in the diagram, H, in respect to the crank, i.e.^ with its 
widest part at right angles to it. By running square is 
meant that when the eccentric is turned round as described, 
the valve opens the ports equally, and does not affect one 
more than the other. The line a of the diagram shows 
that the position of the eccentric may advantageously be a 



THE BOILER. 299 



little beyond the right angle to the crank, to give what is 
called "lead," e.^., to open the valve a little before the 
piston commences its return-stroke. 

The boilers of model engines are made of tin, sheet-brass, 
or copper ; seldom of the latter, which is, nevertheless, by 
far the best material, and one that you can braze, rivet, or 
solder satisfactorily, or bend into any shape with a hammer 
or wooden mallet. When polished, too, its rich red colour 
is very handsome. Brass is chiefly used from the facility 
of obtaining tubes of it ready brazed or soldered, from 
which any desired length can be cut. A brazed copper 
boiler will stand a great deal of pressure ; will tear, and 
not fly into pieces when it bursts ; and may be heated after 
the water has boiled away without suffering any injury. It 
would certainly not be worth while to make one for a model 
engine Avith a half-inch cylinder, but for one of 1 inch dia- 
meter and 1\ stroke ; and for larger sizes, it will amply repay 
the trouble ; and I will show you how to make one, with a 
tube or flue inside to add to the heating surface. 

I shall endeavour presently to give the proper dimensions 
of boilers to work cylinders of given diameters, but the 
general directions here subjoined apply to all boilers of 
models, whether large or small. The main body of the 
boiler is generally cylindi-ical, and is, in fact, a tube of 
sheet-metal, with riveted, brazed, or soldered seams, the 
last greatly predominating in the toy engines ; the result of 



300 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



whicli is, that the first time the water gets too low, out 
drops the bottom, or, at the least, divers leaky places appear, 
and the boiler is obliged to go to the tinman's for repair, 
its beauty being ever after a thing of the past. It is diffi- 
cult to braze in an ordinary fire ; because even if, by blowing 
it with a pair of bellows, you get sufficient heat, you cannot 
always manage to apply your work in a good position, as 
you can over the hot coals of a forge fire, where there are 
no bars, hobs, or other parts of the grate standing in the 
way. Moreover, you often want both hands free just as the 
solder commences to " run," and forge-bellows will keep up 
the blast for a few seconds afcer your hand is taken from 
the staff or handle of them. Still, if you have no forge, 
which is probable, you should make a fire of cinders or coke 
(the latter if possible) ; and if you can contrive a grate by 
putting together a few bricks in some out-house, with a 
bar or two of hoop-iron below for the coke to rest upon, you 
will have a far more convenient fire to work at than can 
possibly be obtained in any ordinary household grate or 
stove. You will require a pair of light tongs, which ought 
to be something like A, Fig. 67 ; but it is quite possible to 
do without these if you can hold your work in any other 
way; as, for instance, with a loop of iron wire twisted 
round it and left long enough to form a handle. 

The first thing to do is to cut a strip of copper large 
enough to make the required tube. A piece 6 inches wide 



THE BOILER. 301 



will roll iTp into a cylinder of about 2 inches diameter (the 
circumference of a circle being nearly equal in all cases to 
three times its diameter, or measure through the centre). 
If, therefore, you want one 6 inches across, which is the 
smallest size that can be advantageously fitted with a flue 
or internal tube, you must cut it out 18 inches wide, and if 
it is 8 in length to the bottom of the steam dome, it will 
be a large and serviceable boiler, fit to work an engine with 
a cylinder oi \\ bore by 2\ or 3 inch stroke, which would 
drive a small lathe. But observe that if you really have 
pluck and skill enough to try your hand upon an engine 
that will give you real power ^ you must take care to remem- 
ber that " the strength of anything is the strength of its 
neakest part." So don't make the very common mistake 
of having a good boiler and ample cylinder, and then fit 
the engine with piston-rod, valve-rod, and such like, too 
small to bear the strain which you propose to put upon the 
engine. Remember that every screw and nut and pin upon 
which strain is liable to fall, must be of sufficient size and 
strength to bear it safely : if not, your engine will not only 
come to grief in the heavy trial, but it is quite possible that 
you also may become subjected to a bad scald or other 
disagreeable consequence of your error. 

Whatever sized strips of copper you use for a boiler, the 
edges have to come together to form what is called a butt- 
joint; i.e. J they do not overlap like the ordinary joints you 



302 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

eee made in tin. Before you coil up the strip into a tubulai 
shape, you have to cut out holes for any boiler fittings you may 
wish to add, such as safety-valve, steam-dome, and gauges 
to ascertain the level of the water. These, however, do 
not all come into the cylindrical part of our present boiler; 
the gauge-taps and glass water-gauge alone having to be 
provided for. The man-hole, too, which is added to all 
large boilers, may be dispensed with, its object being to 
enable one to get at the inside, which will scarcely be 
necessary if our work is well done at first. A boiler of the 
proposed size should be heated with charcoal, as it would 
require a very large lamp ; but where gas can be obtained, 
it may be preferably used, a ring gas-burner being placed 
below within the furnace. The object of a steam-dome, 
which, in a horizontal boiler, would have to be placed 
somewhere on the tube itself, is to prevent what is called 
priming, i.e.^ the carrying into the cylinder water as well 
as steam, which arises from the spurting caused by the 
violent boiling of the water. The dome merely provides 
a chamber for dry steam above the general level of the 
boiler, the steam-pipe passing from it direct to the cylin- 
ders. Our present boiler will be vertical like the last, but 
with a flue up the middle, and a grate fitted below. It 
is shown complete in Fig. 67, B, with all the fittings 
asually attached. 
Having coiled up the tube by hammering it over a 



BRAZING. 303 

cylinder of wood turned for the purpose, a little smallei 
than the intended size of the boiler (the edges having been 
previously filed up bright, and a width of a quarter of an 
inch of the upper being similarly cleaned on the inside all 
along the seam), a few loops of iron wire are tied round 
it, at intervals of 1 inch or 1-| inches ; there being a short 
piece put round, and twisted together at the ends by a 
pair of pliers. The object of these is to prevent the seam 
from opening on the application of heat, which it is other- 
wise certain to do by the expansion of the metal. Some 
borax, pounded in a mortar, and heated to drive off the 
water of crystallisation, is next mixed with a little water 
to form a creamy paste, and smeared along the inside of 
the tube, upon the brightened part, the full length of the 
seam. It is generally better to heat this salt first suffi- 
ciently to dry it (or rather fuse it), because it swells 
prodigiously by the first application of heat, and if the 
spelter is laid on it, it often carries it off; after once 
fusing, it only melts quietly. 

Before applying the little lumps of spelter, turn over 
the tube to heat the part opposite to the seam, so as to 
equalise the expansion. Then hold it in a pair of light 
tongs, lay the spelter all along upon the borax, and expose it 
without actually touching the coals to the heat of the fire, 
urged by a strong blast. Continue this until a blue flame 
arises, which shows that the spelter has melted ; this blue 



304 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

flame being, in fact, that caused by the burning of the 
zinc in the solder — spelter being copper and zinc fused 
together, or, if required softer, brass, tin, and zinc. The 
former is generally used, however, on copper. When the 
blue flame arises, the solder runs into the joint, and the 
work is done. With the hardest of these spelters, a red 
heat will not seriously affect the joint, and, therefore, if at 
any time the water should get below the line of this seam, 
so that it becomes exposed to the heat, no harm will be 
done. Nevertheless, this ought never to occur, as a gauge 
should be attached to every boiler to show the exact 
position of the water at any given time. 

The inside tube of this boiler will be seen, from the 
section, to be conical up to the level of the lower part of 
the chimney. This is of copper, brazed like the cylindrical 
part, and is 2 inches wide below, and 1 inch above ; con- 
sequently, the strips to make it must be 6 inches wide at 
one end, and taper to 3 inches at the other. If the dome 
rises 2 inches from the leVel of the top of the cylinder, it 
will be sufficient ; and as this is a difficult piece of work 
for a boy to manage, a coppersmith should be asked to 
hammer the dome into the required form, as he will know 
from experience the best size of circular disc to use for the 
purpose. This part is so far removed from the action of 
the fire that it may safely be soldered, but it is, never- 
theless, as well to rivet it, tm-ning out both the edge of the 



RIVETING AND BRAZING. 305 

cylinder .and that of the dome. Use copper rivets, and 
make the holes half an inch apart. If you find any 
leakage, you can run a little solder into the joint on the 
inside. The bottom of the boiler may be quite flat and 
brazed, a few rivets being first put in to hold the parts 
accurately together. The same may be said of the tube 
which passes through botli this and the dome. There is 
nothing equal to riveting and brazing for this kind of 
work. 

I may as well state however here, that as such a boiler 
as I have now described is worth very good work, it would 
be a great pity to spoil it ; and it will be better to content 
yourself with smaller boilers and engines soldered, where 
necessary, until you have had some practice in brazing. 
This indeed is not difficult in reality, but, at the same time, 
requires great care, because sometimes the solder an(^ the 
work melt at so nearly the same temperature, that, like a 
bad tinker, you will sometimes make two holes instead of 
mending one. The brass, for instance, used for beer-taps 
is very soft, and contains lead, and to a certainty would 
itself melt before ordinary spelter, and could not there- 
fore be brazed ; but the best Bristol brass, or yellow metal,, 
will braze easily. A blacksmith, brazing a key or other 
iron article, will braze it in a difierent way, using brass- 
wire, with which he will envelop the parts thickly which 
are to be united, after securing their position with iron 



3o6 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 




BOILERS. 307 

binding-wire. He then sprinkles with borax, and heats 
the work until the wire runs into the joint ; after which he 
files and cleans off level. This makes a very good medium. 

I have spoken of riveting in this place. There is no 
difficulty in this work. You can buy copper rivets of all 
sizes, and have only to punch holes, put a rivet in place, 
and hammer it so as to spread the metal to form a second 
head. If the rivets are heated before being applied, they 
will draw the parts closer together, because they shrink 
in cooling. All large boilers are made in this way, but 
smaller ones of iron are often welded^ where such a mode of 
junction is possible. When you can rivet boilers water 
and steam tight, you will find no difficulty in constructing 
them, for you can make riveted joints where brazing 
would be difficult or impossible. 

Fig. 67, B, is a half-section of such a boiler as I have 
just described. Fig. 68, A, is the lower part, which is 
separate, and forms the furnace in which the boiler stands, 
fitting it closely. This is drawn to scale, and is half the 
real size, a is the steam-pipe, fitted high up in the dome, 
the '"^p, (5, serving to turn on or off the supply of steam for 
the cylinder ; c is the safety-valve shown in section, and 
care must be always taken to make the conical part short 
and of a large angle, or it may stick fast, and cause an 
explosion ; d is the glass gauge, to show the exact height 
of the water in the boiler. Its construction will be under- 



3o3 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 




\^-^' 



BOILERS. 309 

stood from the otlier whicli is attached, where the boiler is 
seen in section. There is no need to have two, and this is 
added solely to explain the nature of glass-gauges. The 
top and bottom are of brass, being tubes screwing into the 
boiler, or fastened by a nut inside ; a tube, g^ of thick 
glass, connects these two, so as to form a continuous tube, 
one end of which opens into that part of the boiler which 
is full of steam, the other opening below the water-level. 
Thus the tube forms practically part of the boiler, and the 
level of the water is clearly seen. The lower tap is used 
for blowing off water, to insure the communication being 
kept open, as it might get stopped up with sediment. 

Gauge-cocks, 6, y, are generally added, even where the 
glass water-gauge is used. One of these should always 
give steam, the other water, — the level of the latter being 
between the two. If the upper one gives water, the boiler 
is too full; if both give steam, the boiler needs to have 
water added. With these fittings, even a soldered boiler 
ought never to get burnt, and will last a long time with 
care. 

The lower part. Fig. 67, is made like that before described, 
except that, being intended for charcoal, a circular grate 
is used, which simply rests upon little brackets fixed by « 
rivets for this purpose. The flame and heat play upon the 
bottom of the boiler, and also pass up the central tube — 
the latter adding greatly to the quantity of steam produced. 



3IO THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

This furnace, wlien lighted, may be fed with bits of coke aa 
well as charcoal, about the size of filberts, and will give 
plenty of heat. If the draught, however, is deficient, turn 
the waste steam into the tube, so as to form a jet at each 
stroke, and it will greatly increase it. It is in this way 
that the locomotive engines are always fitted, George 
Stephenson having first suggested the arrangement. Pre- 
viously to this a fan had been fitted below the grate, which 
was put in rapid motion by the engine, and thus a suffi- 
cient draught was obtained. 

THE SAFETY-VALVE. 

To find out what pressure is exerted by the safety-valve, 
it must be clearly understood upon what principle it acts. 
I have in a previous chapter told you that the atmospheric 
pressure equals 15 lbs. on each square inch, so that if ths 
surface of the valve which is exposed to the air is 1 inch 
in area or surface, it is pressed down with a force of 15 lbs. 
The steam, therefore, inside the boiler will not raise it until 
its elasticity exceeds this atmospheric pressure. If, there- 
fore, we desire to have only just 15 lbs. per square inch 
pressing against the inside of the boiler (e.e., a pressure of 
" one atmosphere," as it is called), we have only to load 
the valve so that, inclusive of its own weight, it shall 
equal 15 lbs. But it is plain that we must not load it at 
all in reality ; for a flat plate, 1 inch square, of no weighty 



STEAM PRESS URE. 3 1 » 

i«.^h^U^eeded, the atmosphere itself being the load. 
Suppose, then, that we do load it with 15 lbs. in addition to 
the 15 lbs. with which nature has loaded it, we shall not 
find the steam escape until it presses with a force of 30 lbs. 
on the square inch, or two atmospheres (which, however, 
IS not 30 lbs. of useful pressure upon one side of the piston, 
if the cylinder is open as in an atmospheric engine, but 
only 15 lbs.) This is not the straXn which the boiler has 
to stand, because the atmosphere is pressing upon it and 
counteracting it up to the 15 lbs., so that this strain tend- 
ino- to burst it is but 1 5 lbs. The number of pounds, there- 
fore, which is straining theboiler can readily be seen; being 
always that with which the safety-valve is loaded, and this 
is also the useful pressure for doing any required work. Un- 
fortunately, however, even in the best constructed engines, 
a pressure of 15 lbs. upon the boiler by no means represents 
that in the cylinder. Now it would be inconvenient to 
place weights upon the safety-valve itself, and therefore a 
• lever is added, as seen in the sketch, with a weight hung 
at one end of it. This is shown at B, Fig. 68, where a 
section of the valve is given with its stem passing through 
a guide to insm-e the correct motion of the valve. The 
lever is hinged at one end ; and the rule of the pressure or 
weic^ht which is brought to bear upon the valve is, that it 
is multiplied by the distance at which the weight hangs 
from the valve, compared with its distance from the hmge 



3i« THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



or fulcrum. If a weight of 7 lbs. is hung at 1, i.e.^ at a 
distance as far on that side of the valve as the fulcrum is 
on the other side of it, 7 lbs. will be the actual j^ower 
exerted ; at 2, where it is twice the distance, it will be 
doubled, and, as shown in the drawing, a pressure of 14 lbs. 
will be brought to bear upon the valve; while, if the weight 
is hung at 3, it will exercise a force of 21 lbs. This is very 
easy to understand and to remember. Sometimes (always 
in locomotives) the weight is removed and a spring balance 
is attached at the long end. Upon this is marked the 
actual pressure exerted ; there being a nut to screw down, 
and thus bring any desired strain upon the spring. Mind, 
however, in case you should try this in any of your models, 
that the scale marked on the balance when you buy it must 
be muiciplied, as before, according to the length of your 
lever. Thus, i. i t*ttach such a balnuce at 3 of the di'aw- 
ing, a real weight of 5 o^ shown by the balance will be 
3 X 5, or 15 lbs. upon the valve, and a balance made for 
such engine would be marked 15 lbs., to prevent the possi- 
bility of dangerous error. 

ENGINES WITHOUT SLIDE-VALVES EASY TO MAKE. 

Having been led on from the atmospheric engine to that 
of Watt's, and to slide-valve engines generally, I am now 
going backward a little to a class easier to make, because 
they have no slide-valves, nor even four-way cocks ; and 



OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES. 373 

then I sliall have done with engines. But I dare say some 
of my readers will wonder why I have said so little about 
condensers and condensing engines. I am sure they will 
wonder at it if they understood what I explained of the 
advantage of a vacuum under the piston; so that 15 lbs. 
pressure upon the piston means 15 lbs. of useful work, in- 
stead of 30 lbs. being required for that purpose. But con- 
densing engines are utterly beyond a boy's power. They 
require not only a vessel into which the steam is injected 
at each stroke, but there must be a pump to raise and 
inject cold water to condense the steam, and a pump to 
extract from the vessel again this water, after it has been 
used, and a cistern, and cold and hot wells ; and all this is 
difficult to make so as to act; and I am sure no boy cares for 
a steam engine that will not work. Moreover, I have given 
you difficult work as it is — work that many of my readers 
will no doubt be afraid to try — yet I did it on purpose; 
because if small boys are unequal to some of it, their big 
brothers are not, or ought not to be ; and mechanical boys 
must look at difficulties as a trained hunter looks at a 
hedge — viz., with a strong desire to go over it, or through 
it, or any how and- some how to get to the other side of it. 
Indeed, you must ride your mechanical hobby very boldly 
and with great pluck, or you won't half enjoy the ride. 
However, I am quite aware that I have led you into several 
difficulties, and therefore now I propose to set before yojj 



J 14 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

some easy work as a kind of holiday task whicli will send 
you with fresh vigour to what is not so easy. 

The eugiaes without slide-valves have also no eccentrics 
and no connecting-rods. There is just a boiler, a cylinder, 
piston, piston-rod, and crank, and you have the sum total, 
save and except the fly-wheel. These are direct-action 
engines, the cylinders of which oscillate like a pendulum, 
and the piston-rod itself is connected to the crank, doing 
away with the necessity for guides. 

Fig. 69, A, shows one of these engines, and you see that 
the cylinder leans to the left when the crank is turned to 
that side ; and if you turn the wheel to the right, the crank 
will presently cause it to lean the other way ; and thus, as it 
turns on a pin, or " trunnion," as it is called, it keeps 
on swinging from side to side as the wheel goes round. 

Now, when it is in its first position, the piston is at the 
bottom of the cylinder, and it then needs to have the steam 
admitted below it to drive up the piston ; but when this 
has passed its highest position, and the cylinder is tm^ned 
a little to the right^ the piston must be allowed to descend, 
and, therefore, we must let out the steam below it. We 
oughty at the same time, to admit steam above the piston 
to force it down ; but, in the simplest models, which are 
ealled single-action engines, this is not done. The fly- 
wheel, having been set in motion, keeps on revolving, and, 
by its impetus, sends down the piston quite powerfully 



OSCILLATING CYLINDERS. 



315 



enough to overcome the slight resistance which is offered 
by the friction of the parts. 

Now, you can, I daresay, 
easily understand that it is pos- 
sible to make this to-and-fro 
motion of the oscillating cylin- 
der open first a steam-port to 
allow steam to raise the piston, 
and then an exhaust-port to let 
it blow off into the air. This 
is exactly what is done in prac- 
tice, and it is managed in the 
following manner : — 

B, of Fig. 69, shows the 
bottom of the cylinder, which 
is a solid piece of brass filed 
quite flat on one side, and 
turned out to receive the end 
of the brass tube, which, gener- 
ally speaking, is screwed into 
it to form the cylinder, this 
being the easiest way to make 
it. In the middle of the upper 
part of the flat side you see a 
white steam-port, and below it 
a round white spot, which is the position of the pin, ox 




;i6 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



trunnion, on wlucli it oscillates. Fig. 69, C, is a similai 
piece of brass, wliicli is fixed to the top of the boiler. lu 
tliis, on the left of the upper part, is also a port, which is 
connected with the boiler by a hole drilled below it to 
admit steam. On the right is also a port, which is merely 
cut like a notch, or it may go a little way into the boss, 
and then be met by a hole drilled to meet it, so as to form 
the escape or exhaust port. Between and below these is 
the hole for the trunnion. 

Now, you can, I think, see that if the cylinder stands 
upright against this block, as it does when the crank is 
vertical (or upright) and on its dead points, the port at the 
bottom of the cylinder would fall between the two on this 
block of brass, and, as they are both flat and fit closely, no 
steam from the boiler can enter the cylinder. Nor do we 
want it to do so, because, if the crank is on a dead point, 
no amount of steam can make the piston rise so as to move 
it. But now, if we move the cylinder to the left, which we 
can do by turning the wheel, we shall presently get the 
crank at right angles to its former position, and, also, we 
shall bring the steam-ports in the cylinder and block 
together, so that steam will enter below the piston. But, 
practically to get as long a stroke as possible, steam is not 
allowed to enter fully until the crank is further on than in 
a horizontal positit)n, that is, approaddng its lower dead 
point ; and this is the position in which to put it to start 



DOUBLE-ACTING ENGINES. 317 

tlie engine. By altering the shape or the position of the 
port a little, we can so arrange matters as to let steam 
enter at any required moment. 

Steam having entered, the piston will rise rapidly, forcing 
up the piston, and presently, by the consequent revolution 
of the fly-wheel, the cylinder will be found leaning to the 
left, and at this moment the piston must evidently begin 
to descend. At this very time the steam-ports will have 
ceased to correspond, but the port in the cylinder will come 
opposite the exhaust-port in the brass block, and this port 
is made of such size and shape that the two shall continue 
to be together all the time the piston is descending ; but, 
the moment it has reached the end of its downward stroke, 
they cease to correspond in position, and the steam-port 
begins again to admit a fesh supply of steam. 

The pillar attached to the brass boss has nothing to do 
with it, but is one of the supports of the axle of the fly- 
wheel, as you will understand by inspection of A of this 
same drawing. 

Such is the single-action model engine, of no power ^ but 
a very interesting toy and real steam engine. 

The double-action engine is very superior to the foregoing, 
which, I may remark, has no stuflSng-box, and of which the 
piston is never packed. I may also add, that the crank is 
formed generally by merely bending the wire that forms the 
axle of the wheel, and putting the bent end through the hole 



3r8 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



of a little boss or knob of brass, screwed to the end of 
the piston-rod. Here you have no boring of cylinders 
to accomplish, but the cylinder cover, piston, and wheel 
(often of lead or tin) require the lathe to make them neatly. 
Many an engine, however, has been made without a lathe, 
and I have seen one with a bit of gun-barrel for a cylinder, 
and a four-way cock of very rough construction, that was 
used to turn a coffee-mill, and did its work very well too. 

But I must go at once to the double-action oscillating 
cylinder, in which, although a similar mode of admitting 
steam is used, it is arranged to admit it alternately above 
and below the piston, the exhaust also acting in a similar 
manner. ^ 

After the explanation I have given you, however, of the 
single-action engine, you will, some of you, I think, jump 
at a conclusion almost directly, and perhaps be able to plan 
for yourselves a very easy arrangement to accomplish the 
desired end. All boys, however, are not " wax to receive, 
and adamant to retain " an impression ; for I have known 
some who need an idea to be driven into their brains with a 
good deal of hard hammering. Stupid ? — No. Dull ? — No, 
orly slow in getting hold, and none the worse for that gener- 
ally, if the master will but have a little patience ; for when 
they do get hold, they are very like bulldogs, they won't' 
let go in a hurry, but store up in most retentive minds 
what they learned with such deliberation. 



CIRCULAR PORTS. 319 



THE DOUBLE-ACTION OSCILLATING ENGINE. 

The cylinder of the double-action engine is of necessity 
made with ports very similar to those of the horizontal 
engine already described. There is a solid piece attached 
to the cylinder as before, which is drilled down to the upper 
and lower part respectively of a central boss, turned very flat 
upon the face, and which has to work against a similar flat 
surface as in the last engine. But the ports in the latter 
are four instead of two, and in an engine with upright 
cylinder would be cut as follows, and as shown in Fig. 

70, C. 

Those on the right marked st are steam-ports, which, being 

drilled into one behind, are connected with the boiler. The 

other two marked ex^ are similarly exhaust-ports opening into 

the air. The spaces between a b and c d oi fig. C must be 

wide enough to close the steam-ports in the cylinder, when 

the latter is perpendicular and the engine at rest. When 

the cylinder leans to the left, oscillating on the central pin 

between the ports in the middle of the circle, the lower port 

of it will evidently be in connection with the steam-port in 

C, while the upper port of the cylinder will be opposite to 

the exhaust. As the cylinder is carried over towards the 

right, the upper steam-ports will come into action in a 

similar way, while the lower exhaust-port is also carrying 

off in turn the waste steam. The impetus, therefore, of the 



320 



THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



flj-wheel has here only to carry the ports over the sjDaces 
a b, c d, and to prevent the crank stopping on the two dead 
points. This, therefore, is a genuine double-action engine. 





To^ of toiler' 



E 

I 



///////////////, 



c d 



Fig. 70. 



and will answer, even on a large scale, very satisfactorily. 
If you do not quite understand the action of these ports, cut 
out two pieces of card, E F. Let E represent the cylinder. 
Draw circles, and cut two ports. Cut another piece of card 



DETAILS. 321 

to represent the brass block, with ports, c d; pin them 
togetlier through the centres of the circles, and they will 
easily turn on the pin, Mark the ports, so that you will 
see at a glance which are steam and which exhaust. Now 
cut out the ports with a penknife, and as you work the two 
cards together, swaying that which represents the cylinder 
to and fro upon the other, you will see when the ports in 
each card agree with one another, and which are ojDposite to 
which. This will teach you far better than any further 
written explanation. You will also see that, instead of 
making the steam and exhaust ports respectively with a 
division between, the two steam-ports may be in one curve 
united, and likewise the two exhausts ; but take care not to 
unite the exhaust with the steam-ports. There is no way 
so easy as this of reversing the action of the steam; it is, in 
fact, a circular slide-valve, but wonderfully easy to make, 
because you have no steam-case to make, nor any attach- 
ments whatever. 

The faces of 'the valve are kept in close contact in one of 
two ways — either the centre-pin is fixed into the cylinder 
face, and after passing through the brass boss with the 
ports, is screwed up with a nut at the back ; or else there is 
fixed a small pillar or upright on the opposite side of the 
cylinder, and a little pointed screw passing through this 
presses against the cylinder, and makes a point of resist- 
ance, against which it centres, and on which it turns. This 

X 



3 22 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



is shown at fig. A. A small indentation is made where the 
point comes in contact with the cylinder. 

In a locomotive engine there are two such cylinders, 
working against opposite faces of the same brass block 
containing the ports. The cranks are also two, on the 
shaft of the driving-wheels, and are at right angles to each 
other; so that when one piston is at the middle of its 
stroke, the other is nearly or quite at the end of it. Thus, 
between the two there is always some force being exerted 
by the steam; and the dead jioints of one crank agree with 
the greatest leverage of the other. In locomotives, too, the 
cylinders generally are made as in the present drawing, 
viz., to oscillate on a point at the middle of their length; 
but it is just as easy to have the two ports meet at the 
bottom instead, so that the point of oscillation may be low 
down, like the single-acting cylinders of the last sketch, 
and this is generally done when the cylinder is to stand 
upright. 

There is no occasion for me to draw an engine with 
double-acting oscillating cylinders, because in appearance 
it would be like the single-acting one; but whereas the 
latter is of absolutely no use, seeing that the greater part 
of its motion depends on the impetus of the fly-wheel, the 
former can be made to do real work, and is the form to be 
used for marine and locomotive engines. For the former, 
oscillating cylinders with slide-valves are used in practice ; 



TRUE LABOUR. 323 



but for real locomotives fixed cylinders are always used. 
Of course either will answer in models, and it will be good 
practice to try both. 

I have now given sufficient explanation of how engines 
work, and how they may be made, to enable my young 
mechanic to try his hand at such work. The double-action 
oscillating engines especially are well worthy of his atten- 
tion, as he may with these fit up working models of steam- 
boats and railway trains, which are far more difficult to 
construct with fixed cylinders and slide-valves. I shall 
therefore close this part of my work with a description of 
one or two useful appliances to help him in the manipula- 
tive portion of his labour, — for here, as in most other 
matters, head and hand and heart must work together. 
The heart desires, the head plans, the hands execute. I 
think, indeed, I might without irreverence bring forward 
a quotation, written a very Icng time ago by a very clever 
and scientific man, in a very Holy Book : "Whatsoever thy 
hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might." Depend 
upon it success in life depends mainly upon carrying into 
practice this excellent advice. If you take up one piece ot 
work, and carelessly and listlessly play at doing it, and 
then lay it down to begin with equal indifference something 
else, you will never become either a good mechanic or a 
useful man. If you read of those who have been great men 
— lights in their generation — you will find generally that 



324 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

they became sucli simply by tlieir observance of tbat ancient 
precept of the wise man. They were not so marvellously 
clever — they seldom had any unusual worldly advantages ; 
but they worked " with all their might," and success 
crowned their efforts, as it will crown yours if you do the 




Chapter XV. 



HARDENING AND TEMPERING TOOLS- 




PROMISED in a previous page to describe a little 
stove for heating soldering-irons, and doing 
other light work. It is made as follows, and 
will be found very useful. 
Fig. 71, A, is a tube of sheet-iron, which forms the body 
of the little stove. Four light iron rods stand out from it, 
which form handles, but these are forked at the ends, and 
thus become rests for the handles of soldering-irons, or any 
light bars that are to be heated at the ends. Below is a 
tray, also of sheet-iron, upon short legs to keep it off the 
table — for this is a little table-stove. C is the cast-iron 
grate. You can buy this for a few pence first of all, and 
then you fit your sheet-metal to it. It will rest on three 
or four little studs or projections riveted to the stove in- 
side ; or you can cut three or four little places like D, not 
cutting them at the bottom line, a b, but only on three 
sides, and then bend in the little piece so as to make ft 



326 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



shelf. If the stove is ahoiit 4 inches high above the grate, 
and 2 or 3 inches below it, and 6 inches diameter, it will 
be sufficient]}^ large for many small operations ; but that 
the fuel may keep falling downwards as it burns, the lower 
part should be larger then the upper, and, to admit plenty 
of air should be cut into legs as shown. Round the top 
are cut semicircular hollows, in which the irons rest. To 
increase the heat, a chimney or blower, B, is fitted, which 
has also openings cut out to match those of the lower j^art, 
so that the soldering-irons can be inserted when this 
chimney is put on. If, however, this is not required, but 
only a strong draught, by turning the chimney a little, all 
the openings will be closed. A still longer chimney can 
be added at pleasure. A hole should be made at the level 
of the grate to admit the nozzle of an ordinary pair of bel- 
lows. This stove you would find of great service, and it 
may be fed with coke and charcoal in small lumps. Now 
you may make the above far more useful. It will make a 
regular little furnace, and not burn through, if you can line 
it with fireclay. In London and large towns you can 
obtain this ; and it only needs to be mixed up with water, 
like mortar, when you can plaster your stove inside an inch 
thick or more, making it so much larger on purpose. 
There is no need to do this below the level of the grate ; 
but if you cannot get fireclay, you may do almost as well 
by getting a blacklead-meltingpot from any ironfoundry, 



DETAILS OF CONSTIi(/CTIOi\ 



327 



and boring a few holes round the bottom for air, and fitting 
it inside your little iron stove. In this you can obtain 
heat enough to melt brass, and it will last a great deal 




Fig. 71. 

longer tlian the iron alone, which will burn through if you 
blow tlie fire much ; but for general soldering, tempering 
small tools, and so forth, you need not blow the fire, as 
the hood and chimney will sufiiciently increase the heat. 
There is no danger in the use of this little fireplace, but 
of course you would not stand it near a heap of shavings, 
unless you are yourself a very careless young " shaver." 



HOW TO TEMPER TOOLS. 

There is no reason why the young mechanic should not 



328 2HE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

be told how to make his own tools, and how to harden and 
temper them, because he ought to be a sort of jack-of-all- 
trades; and perhaps he may break a drill or other small 
tool just in the middle of some special bit of work, or his 
drill may be just a little too small or too large, and there 
he will be stuck fast as a pig in a gate, and unable to set 
himself right again any more than the noisy squeaker 
aforesaid. But to a workman a broken drill means just 
five minutes' delay, and all goes on again as merrily as 
before ; and as we wish to make our 3'oung readers work 
men and not bunglers, we will teach them this useful art 
at once. 

Drills are made of steel wire or rods of various sizes. 
In old times they were made square at one end, to fit lathe- 
chucks or braces, but now, for lathe-work, they are gener- 
ally made of round steel, and fastened into the chuck with 
a set screw on one side. In this way they can be more 
easily made to run true. But there are so many kinds of 
drills that I suppose I had better go into the matter a 
little — only T have not room to say much more. 

Look at Fig. 72, and you will see some of the more usual 
forms of drills used, but these are by no means all. You 
will not indeed require such a collection ; and yet, if you 
should grow from a young mechanic into an old one, I dare- 
say you will find yourself in possession of several of them. 
The first, labelled 1, is the little watchmaker's drill, of 



DIFFERENT DRILLS. 



329 



which, nevertheless, this would be considered a very large 
size. It is merely a bit of steel wire, with a brass pulley 
upon it, formed into a point at the largest end, and into a 




Pig. 72. 
drill at the other. The way it is worked is this : At the 
side of the table-vice — that is, at the end of its jaws or 
chops or chaps — are drilled a few little shallow holes, in 
which the watchmaker places the point at the thickest end; 
the drill-point rests against the work, which he holds in 
his left hand. A bow of whalebone, a, has a string of 
fine gut such as is used for fishing, or, if the drill is very 
email, a horse-hair ; and this is given one turn round the 



330 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

brass pulley "before tlie drill is placed in position. The 
bow is tlien moved to and fro, causing the drill to revolve 
first in one direction and then in the other. The general 
work is in thin brass, and therefore these little tools are 
sufficiently strong for the purpose. Some of the drills and 
broaches (four or five, or even six sided wires of steel) are 
so fine that they will bend about like a hair, and yet are 
so beautifully made and tempered as to cut steel. 

No. 2 is a larger drill, even now much used. In prin- 
ciple it is exactly similar to the last, but the pulley is 
replaced by a bobbin or reel of wood, made to revolve by a 
steel bow with a gut string, or a strong wooden bow. The 
drills, too, are separate, and fit into a socket at the bottom 
of the drill-stock. The large end is pointed, as in the last, 
and is made to rest in one of the holes in a steel breast- 
plate, (5, which is tied to the chest of the operator, who, by 
leaning against it, keeps the drill to its work, while both 
hands are free to hold the latter steady. There is a modi- 
fication of this tool, invented by a Mr Freeman, intended 
to do away with the bow. The bobbin or reel is turned 
without raised ends, and is worked by a flat strip of 
wood covered with india-rubber, and turned at one end to 
form a convenient handle. The having to twist the bow- 
string round the drill, which is always a bother, is thus 
done away with. 

No. 4 is a drill-stock similar to the last, but in place of 



ARCHIMEDEAN DRILLS. 331 

the breast-plate a revolving head or handle is put to the 
top, in which the point works. This is held in one hand, 
while Xho, drill-how is worked by the other. This is also 
generally held against the chest, as the hand alone does 
not give sufficient pressure. Heavy work, however, can- 
not well be done by these breast-drills, and they are liable 
to cause spitting of blood from the constant pressure in 
the region of the heart and lungs. 

No. 3 is the Archimedean drill-stock, now very common, 
but originally invented by a workman of Messrs Holt- 
zapffel's, the eminent lathemakers of London. It now 
comes to us as an American drill-stock. It is a long 
screw of two or more threads, with a ferule or nut working 
upon it. The upper end revolves within the head, which is 
of wood ; the lower end is formed into a socket to receive 
the drills, which revolve by sliding the ferule up and down. 
Some are 14 inches long, and others not more than 5. 
The first are used with the pressure of the chest, the latter 
with that of the left hand. For light work these are very 
useful, and you will seldom need any other in the models 
of small engines, &c. 

No. 5 is another watchmaker's drill, but serves also as a 
pin-vice to hold small pieces of wire while being turned or 
filed in the little lathes which are used in that trade, and 
which are worked by a bow with one hand, while the tool 
is held in the other. This is by no means a useless tool, 



332 THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

even without the pulley. It is made by taking a round 
(or Letter, an octagon, or five or six sided) piece of steel, 
drilling the end a little distance, and then sawing the 
whole up the middle. The slit thus made is then filed 
away to widen it, and leave two jaws at the end, which 
grasp the pin or drill; a ring slips over, and keeps the 
iaws together. 

We now come to fig. 6, which represents the best of all 
drills for metal. It is really American this time, and does 
our Transatlantic cousins great credit, as does the machinery 
generally invented or made by them (the Wheeler and 
Wilson sewing-machines for instance). The steel of which 
this drill is made is accurately turned in a lathe, and the 
spiral groove is cut by machinery. This groove acts in two 
ways — first, as allowing the shavings (not powdery chips) to 
escape as the tool i^enetrates, but as forming the cutting 
edges where they (for there are two) meet at the point. 
These, however, require a lathe with a self-centring chuck 
made on purpose. They are sold in sets upon a stand, 
chuck and all complete, and each is one-thirty-second of 
an inch larger than the other. Some are as small as a 
darning-needle, or less, and they run up to an inch or so in 
diameter. There are large and small sets. 

We now pass to the old-fashioned smith's brace, fig. 7, 
ehown in position, drilling the piece e. Pressure is kept 
up either by a weighted lever, or by a screw, as shown 



TO MAKE DRILLS. T^^-i, 

here. The brace is moved round by the hand of the work- 
man. Very often this tool is arranged on the vice-bench, 
so that the work can be retained in the jaws of the vice 
while being drilled. Sometimes it is mounted on a separ- 
ate stand, having a stool below, and a special kind of vice 
or clamp issadded. Well made, this is not so bad a tool as 
it looks, but those used ordinarily in smiths' shops are very 
clumsy, and do not even run true, and the drills are badly 
made, although by sheer force they are driven through the 
work. 

Whatever form of drill -stock is used, the main thing is 
to have the drills properly formed. You will recognise k 
and n as common forms, than which m is considerably 
better. For cast-iron n would not be a bad point, because 
the angle is great, much greater, you see, than k ; and the 
bevels which form the cutting edges of a drill should also 
not be too sharp, as they are generally made, for, as they 
only scrape away the metal, their edges go directly. 

The common way to make a drill is this : A piece of steel 
wire of the required size is heated until red hot (never to 
a white heat, or it would be spoiled). The end is then 
flattened out with a hammer, and the point trimmed with 
a file. It is then again heated red hot, and dipped into 
cold water for a second. Then held where the changes of 
colour, which ensue as it cools, can be seen plainly; and ag 
Boon as a deep yellow or first tinge of purple becomes 



354 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

visible, it is entirely cooled in water. It is then finished, 
except as regards fitting it to the drill-stock, which may be 
done before or after it is hardened, because care is taken 
only to dip the extreme point. To get proper cutting 
edges the drill is taken to the grindstone, and each side of 
the point is slightly bevelled, but in opposite directions, so 
as to make it cut both ways. It is not, however, left of 
equal width, like o, but the flattened sides are ground away, 
so as to make more of a point, like p and n. 

Now, this is all right enough as regards forging and 
hardening, and tempering, and for the smallest drills this 
is the only way to make them. (Only watchmakers heat 
them in the candle till red, and then cool and temper by 
running them into the tallow.) But if you want a good 
drill that will cut well and truly, you should file away the 
sides of a round bar like »«, only spreading the point very 
slightly indeed, just to prevent the drill sticking fast in the 
work. Another drill, indeed, is spoken of very highly, 
which is also carefully made like w, but the places which 
are here flat are hollowed out or grooved lengthwise, the 
section of the point — i.e.^ the appearance of the end of the 
drill — becomes rather curious, like r. I am assured by those 
who have used them, that these cut quite as well as the 
twist drills which I have described already. These which 
I am now speaking of are also American ; and I don't know 
how it is, that somehow America is a far better place foi 



FLOGGING BY STEAM t 335 

improvements in tools and macliines than our own Old 
England. And if I had a wonderful invention — a new 
birch-rod-making and flogging-machine for very trouble- 
some boys, for instance — I am afraid I should go to America 
to patent it ; but I daresay English boys would not object 
to that. 

To teach an idle boy to read, 

His raiad be sure to jog ; 
But if he 's very bad indeed, 

You '11 be obliged to flog. 

Yet if you flog him day by day. 

He '11 ntver learn to read ; 
For boys require a lot of play 

To make them work with speed. 

But young mechanics, if they err 

Or join the lazy team, 
Would all, as I suppose, prefer 

To be well flogged by steam. 

If not, they had better not let me patent my flogging- 
roachine. Luckily it is not invented yet. 

The cutting edges of drills come under the same rules as 
other cutting edges. You might, for instance, hold a large 
drill flat on the rest, and use either edge as a turning-tool. 
You will see at once that these edges will not cut if 
made in the usual way, but only scrape. The bevel wants 
to be ground only to 3**, as before explained, to give 
the proper clearance, and the cutting edge requires to be 
then made by grinding back the upper surface, which is 
just the same in effect as is produced by twisting the metal 



3.36 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

or cutting a spiral groove, wliicli hollows out this uppei 
surface and gives it cutting power. It is no use grinding a 
sharper-looking bevel, or making more of a point — you 
only weaken the edge ; m or w is quite pointed enough, 
though the first is a right angle and the second greater ; 
and, for cast-iron, a rounded point, showing no angle at all, 
will do just as well, or better, when once it has begun to 
penetrate. Do not be deceived, therefore, by making drills 
look pointed and keen, for, I repeat, they are scraping tools 
only, unless you file an edge by bevelling back the upper 
fece of each side of the point. If you were to make a very 
thick, strong drill, you might begin by grinding back the 
two sides to 3°, to form the accidental front line of the point 
or section angle, and then grind back, at A^° from this line^ 
the upper face, by which you would do just what you did to 
give the graver cutting edges of G0° — only a drill thus 
formed must have a point of 90°. It would cut in two 
directions, like one for a drill stock and bow. 

1 hope my bigger boys will not pass over the remarks on 
cutting edges interspersed in this book, for, once under- 
stood, they will be found to be most valuable. Indeed, they 
cannot work intelligently until they understand exactly 
the nature and principles of the tools which they have to 
use. In drilling iron, use water or oil, or soap and water, 
or soda-water— either will do; but the holes are drilled in 
th© ships' armour-plating with soap and water to cool the 



DRILLS AND BORING-BITS. 337 

drill ; and very well it answers, for these plates are several 
inclies thick, but the holes are soon made. When working 
in brass and gnn-metal, nse no water, but work the drill 
quite dry. The same rules, in short, apply to drilling ag 
to turning or planing metal; and if you could see the 
action of a well-made American twist-drill, you would re- 
cognise this similarity, for you would see the metal come 
forth in long, bright curls, as prelty and shining as those 
of your favourite young lady or loving sister — one of which 
you have, I daresay. 

To give you some idea of what a straight course a drill 
will take, if rightly made and skilfully used, I may tell you 
that a twist-drill has been run through a lucifer-match 
from end to end without splitting it ; and as to ihejineness 
possible, I have seen a human hair with an eye drilled 
through it, by which, needle-like, it was threaded with the 
other end of itself. 

I told you how to bore a cylinder, which is but drilling 
on a larger scale, and in Fig. 65 I sketched the method of 
doing this in the lathe with a rosebit. But I did not ex- 
plain another tool used just in the same way, but which will 
bore holes in solid iron wonderfully. Fig. 65, L, H, K, is- 
one of these. This is an engineer's boring-bit, and is made 
of all sizes, from that required to bore the stem of a tobacco- 
pipe — (don't smoke, boys, it will dry up your brains) — to 
that which would bore a cannon. A rod of steel is forged; 

y 



338 THE YOUNG MECHANIC, 

witli a boss or larger part at one end. This is centred in tlie 
latlie, and tlie centre-marks are well drilled, and not merely 
punched, especially that at the small end. The boss is then 
turned quite cylindrical, after which it is filed* away exactly 
to tbe diametrical line, as you will see by inspection of L. 
The end is then ground off a little slanting, to give, as 
before, about 3° of clearance. The cutting edge thus ob- 
tained, and the end in which the centre hole still remains, 
are carefully hardened. You thus have a tool which will 
bore splendidly, but you must give it entrance by turning 
a recess first of all in the work, or drilling, with a drill of 
equal size, a little way into the material. Used like the 
rosebit, this tool will run beautifully straight, so that you 
can bore very deep, long holes with it, and cylinders can 
be most beautifully bored with it. I think you would be 
able to make these tools with a little care ; but, when you 
harden them, only heat and dip the extremities, or it is 
ten to one your steel rod will bend and warp in cooling, 
and you will not be able to rectify it. If the ends are quite 
hard, it is as well that the rest should be soft, as the tool 
will not then be so liable to get broken. 

There are many other tools used for boring iron and steel, 
but you need not trouble yourself at present to learn any- 
thing of them — they are no use to you now. 

I have headed this chapter " Hardening and Tempering " 

* In large tools this is not done by the file. 



OXYGEN, 339 

tools, but as yet I have only partially explained the process, 
which is a very curious one ; and though the result is highly 
necessary in many cases, it is by no means well understood 
what really takes place in the process, or why this effect 
should occur in steel, but not in iron, or brass, or other 
metals. 

If you heat a piece of bright steel over a clear gas jet or 
fire which will not smoke it, you will see several colours 
arise as the metal gets hotter and hotter, until finally it 
becomes red. These are due to oxidation, which is so lonsf 
a word that I am not sure I can stop to explain it thoroughly. 
Let us see, however, what we can make of it. The air we 
breathe contains two gases, oxygen and nitrogen, with a 
small proportion of a third called carbonic acid. Neither of 
these alond will support life,. or keep the fire burning, or 
enable vegetables to live and grow, but it is the first which 
is in this the chief support. The second is only used by 
Nature as we use water to brandy, viz., to dilute it and 
render it less strong. If we breathed oxygen alone, we 
should live too fast, and wear out our bodies in a few hours. 
K we breathed nitrogen only, we should die, and so of car- 
bonic acid. Now this oxygen seizes upon everything in a 
wonderful and sometimes provoking manner. If you leave 
a bright tool out of doors to get damp, down comes our 
friend oxygen arid rusts it. It combines with the iron and 
makes oxide of iron, which is what we call rust. I suppose, 



34© THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

however, tliis oxj'^gen comes more from the water than the 
air, because water is made also of two gases, hydrogen and 
this same oxygen. It is certain that oxygen in this case 
always finds any bright tools that we leave about in the wet, 
and coats them with a red jacket very speedily. Then if 
you look at a blacksmith at work, you will see scales fall 
from the hot iron as he hammers it. These are black, but 
our old friend has been at work, and united with the red- 
hot metal and formed another oxide of iron, called black 
oxide. We can understand this. If a man eats a good 
deal, or drinks a good deal, he gets red in the face ; if he eats 
till he chokes himself, he gets black in the face, and I sup- 
pose it is much the same when oxygen eats too much iron. 
Well, when we begin to heat the steel, down comes oxygen 
and begins his work ; and first he looks very pale ; then he 
gets more bilious and yellower ; then he gets hotter and 
shows a tinge of red with the yellow forming orange ; then 
he begins to get purple, then blue, then deeper blue ; and 
finally black before he gets absolutely red and white hot. 

Now to temper steel, we first heat it red-hot, not mind- 
ing these colours, and then we cool it suddenly in cold water. 
This renders it very hard indeed. No file will cut it, or 
drill penetrate it ; but if we strike it, behold it breaks like 
glass ! This is too hard for general work, for the edge will 
break and chip if it meets with any hard spot in the metal, 
or chances to bite in too deep. Its teeth are too brittle, and 



TEMPERING. 341 

so get broken off. For tliis reason we have to " let down," 
or temper, the tool, and we proceed as follows : The part 
to be tempered is ground quite bright. It is then laid upon 
a bar of iron heated red-hot, or if small, it is held over a 
gas jet or in a candle ; heated, in short, in au}^ way most 
suitable and convenient. And now, first, our friend oxygen 
puts on a pale yellow face as before. This will do for turn- 
ing steel and u'on, but is still too hard for general work. 
Then comes the orange, and this presently tends sliglitly to 
blue ; at which point, if the tool is instantly cooled in water, 
it will be found to bear a good edge, hard, but sufficiently 
tough for work. Most tools for metal and drills are let 
down to something between the yellow and blue, and we 
know that the more they approach blue, the softer they will 
be. Thus we can easily manage our tools ; — some to bear 
hard blows, like axes, which are tempered to a blue colour ; 
some like files, which a blow will break, but which are 
famous for their own special work — these are let down only 
to a pale yellow ; others, like springs and saws, are let 
down to a more thorough blue, because they are required 
to be elastic and tough, but are not needed to be so par- 
ticularly hard. Then tools like turnscrews, and bradawls, 
and gimblets are left even softer, sometimes not tempered 
or hardened at all, but just forged and ground to the re- 
quired shape. 
Now, I fancy some of my sharp boys will say that the 



342 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

fii'st description I gave of tlie mode of hardening and tem- 
pering was not exactly like this ; nor was it, yet in 
principle it is tlie same. For instance, if you give a 
drill to a smith to make, he will do as I then said. Ke 
will heat the extreme point red-hot, then dip the point in 
water, give a ruh on the stone or hricks of the forge, and 
watch the colours. This can he done when the tool is of 
sufficient substance to retain heat enough after the edge 
has been dipped to re-heat that edge sufficiently. In this 
case there is no need to chill the whole tool and then heat 
it again. But in the case of small drills and tools, pen- 
knife-blades, and other articles of this nature, there will 
not be sufficient heat retained, after dipping, to bring up 
to the surface the desired colours ; for oxygen likes a 
hot dinner as well as you do, and if the iron is not hot 
enough he will have nothing to do with it. 

One great difficulty you would find if you had much 
tempering to do, viz., that the articles bend under the 
operation, some more than others. Try this : Take a thin 
knitting-needle when the owner is not looking, and run off 
with it ; — it is all in the cause of science ! Heat it red-hot, 
and with a pair of pliers take it up and drop it sidewise in 
a basin of water. It will bend like a bow. Heat again, 
straighten it, re-heat, and thip time pop it in lengthwise — 
endwise, point first — I mean (don't you see that a round 
needle has no sides, and puts me into a perfect quagmire 



DURING HARDENING. 343 



of difficulty). However, you will understand this, and 
will find the needle not bent nearly so much as before, but 
still it is not straight. As I explain most things as I go 
on, I may as well explain why this bending occurs before 
I tell you how to straighten your work again. All metals 
expand with heat, and contract with cold. I am sure 1 
contract terribly in the winter until I have had plenty of 
hot soup, and hot roast-beef, and plum-pudding ; and I 
know my temper improves, too, when I get expanded and 
warm. Well now, when you dropped your sister's knit- 
ting-needle all hot on its side into the water, that side 
contracted before the other, and consequently the needle 
bent ; but when you put it in the water, end on, it was 
cooled all round at once, and if you could but cool a piece of 
metal equally all over, inside and out, at once, all parts would 
shrink equally fast, and the article would remain straight. 

But there is, unfortunately, anotlier cause of this bend- 
ing, which is, that all articles are not of such form that 
the same quantity of metal is on all sides of the axial 
line. Take a half-round file, for instance; one side is flat, 
the other curved, so that taking these two surfaces into 
consideration, one contains a great deal more metal than 
the other, and will not cool at the same rate. These 
articles are far more liable to bend than those whose sides 
are parallel. Another result of the hot mass being cooled 
most quickly on the outside is, that cracks are produced in 



344 THE YOUNG MECHANIC. 

the latter, "because, so to speak, the shin is contracted, and 
can no longer contain all the expanded metal within it. 
Hence, to make a mandrel for a lathe, it is common to bore 
it out first, before hardening, to remove this mass of metal, 
and to allow the water to touch it inside as well as out. 
Such mandrels seldom crack or bend. 

The only way to straighten articles which have warped 
by hardening, is by what is called hacking or hack-ham- 
mering, which is nothing more than hammering the con- 
cave or hollow side with the edge of the steel pane of a 
hammer. This spreads the metal upon the hammered side, 
and, by expanding it, straightens the tool, for the hollow 
side, remember, is that which was too much shrunk or con- 
tracted. This is not an operation you will have to do, 
especially if you only harden the extreme points of the 
drills and little tools you make. 

There is another way of hardening, not steel, but iron, 
called " case hardening," because it puts a case of steel 
over the surface of the metal. Obtain a salt called prus- 
siate of potash. It is yellow, like barley-sugar, but is 
poison. Heat the iron red-hot, and well rub it upon this 
salt, and then cool it in water. You will find that now a 
file will not touch it, its surface being as hard as glass. It 
is carbonised on its exterior, and made into hard steel. 
This can be done in another way, as gun-locks, snufiers, 
and many other things are case hardened. They are en- 



KING'S COLLEGE BOYS. 345 

closed in an iron box, with cuttings of leather and bone- 
dnst, and the box is luted about with clay and put in the 
fire. All the pieces get red-hot, and the leather chars and 
blackens, and some of it combines as before with the hot 
iron, and makes it into steel. And our friend oxygen is 
considertibly at a loss in this case to find his way in, or he 
would make black scales again and spoil the work ; or com- 
bine with the carbon (or charcoal) and make it into gas. 
Probably, however, as we shut up a little oxygen with the 
contents of the box, this change does take place, hwi just as 
the gas rises the iron seizes it, and holds it fast. 

And now, boys, I find it necessary to lay down the pen, 
which I see has almost run away with me, and written a 
good many more pages than I at first intended. Since I 
began to write I have visited the workshops at King's 
College, and seen a sight to gladden my eyes. Boys car- 
pentering, boys turning, boys filing ; engines of real use, 
with single and double cylinders, finished, and in course of 
construction, and all these the work of schoolboys, whose 
hands and brains are alike engaged in this delightful 
branch of industry. Let no one, therefore, pretend that 
boys are not capable of executing good work of this kind in 
a masterly manner, or that what they do is always child's- 
play, or I shall take up the cudgels in their behalf. I 
have also seen, in the Working- Men's Exhibition, a very 
neat little engine, made by a boy only twelve years of age. 



346 7HE YOUNG MECHANIC. 



whicli makes me hope and believe that the few hints upon 
wood and metal work which I have here thrown together 
will neither be unacceptable nor useless to those whom I 
address in these pages. In this hope I take my leave, and 
EJgn myself, with gratification and pride — 

The boy mechanic's faithful friend, 

THE AUTHOa. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




013 970 616 A 



